


Raccoon City Highschool (Redux)

by SumiArana



Category: Biohazard | Resident Evil (Gameverse)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Cheating, Eventual Smut, F/M, Gen, Highschool AU, Leon is an asshole, Love Triangles, Multi, Not Beta Read, Older Man/Younger Woman, Rewrite, Stoner Steve, Teacher-Student Relationship, Teenage Drama, mild drug use, mild violence, slow burn Steve/Claire
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-12
Updated: 2020-06-02
Packaged: 2020-08-19 19:02:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 20
Words: 38,414
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20214712
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SumiArana/pseuds/SumiArana
Summary: Re-write of my original fanfiction Raccoon City High (originally published April 2009).Simply put, all of your favorite Resident Evil characters cast as High School (and college) Students. Lemons in later chapters. Currently rated M for language, smut, drug [herb] use.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> so I feel kinda weird about this. I started the original RCHS in 2009 when I was, I think, a Junior in Highschool. That was a decade ago. My Resident Evil obsession hasn't faded at all, and if anything, it's grown. I've toyed with the idea of re-writing this fic for the last handful of years, because it's one of the most fun things I've ever had the pleasure to write.
> 
> Before I ramble too far on, I want to mention that I *do * have the underage warning on but that's somewha just a precaution at the moment. It's a HS fic, so people are highschool aged. All the characters are going to be 16 or older in this fic. There will be sex. Some 16+ characters will be with 21+ characters. So just to get that out of the way, if its not your jam, please click back. :) Other warnings will be clearly stated at the beginning of each chapter, and I will add them to the overall story as they need to be.
> 
> I was still writing largely straight fanfic when I wrote the original incarnation of this, and now that seems totally weird, so do be prepared for more gay stuff than the original. Other than that, you can think of this version like RE2 remake. It's going to be somewhat the same, but somewhat different and new. I (hope) I have a better grip on these characters now that I've been writing them for almost a decade, but we'll see.
> 
> :)
> 
> I'm running polls and asking questions about this fic almost daily on my Twitter, so please feel free to follow me there. (@burnside_fan) if you'd like to participate.
> 
> Loves you all.

The previously empty halls of the Raccoon City High School flooded with teenagers as the bell signaling the end of classes pierced the air. With the last day of the school week behind them, there was an undeniable buzz of energy from the students.

“Hey, Claire.” Claire didn't even have to turn her head to know that it was Rebecca Chambers approaching her. They happened to be locker neighbors and also in the same gym class.

“Hey, Rebecca... Well,” the redhead paused for a second, fiddling with her combination lock until it made a soft _click _and her locker opened.“I'm supposed to meet Leon, Chris and some of our friends at the mall.” She shrugged her backpack off, balancing it carefully on her knee as she swapped out her books for the ones she would need over the weekend. She felt a wave of excitement wash over her as she mentioned Leon, her boyfriend. Since he graduated and went to college, she almost always only saw him over the weekend. Between his college classwork and studying for Police Academy, he just had too much on his plate to see her as often as they used to.

“Oh, how is your brother?” The smaller girl folded her arms over her chest and leaned against the row of lockers, waiting for her response.

Claire smiled inwardly. Chris had graduated three years ago, but she was still asked practically daily about her brother. If anything, she thought, it attested to Chris's kind personality and bright outlook on life. He had always been at the front of charity events, and didn't have a mean bone in his body. He played football for the Raccoon City Stars, crowned Prom King in his graduating year, and was generally an all around well liked guy. She'd found herself to be relatively fortunate that most of her peers treated her pretty well because of the association of her older brother.

“He's good.” She shouldered her backpack again as her locker swung close. “Jill might move in with us.” She wrinkled her nose lightly at the thought. It had just been her and her brother since their parents passed away a few years ago. The idea of someone else, even Jill, moving into that space made her nervous.

“How's AFROTC going for him?” Rebecca tucked a stray tuft of brown hair behind her ear. She'd been looking into her options in the medical field. She'd most recently had her interest piqued in either some sort of military work or Doctors Without Borders. Two very different professions in her eyes, but she was thankful that she still had the time to look into both options.

“You know Chris.” She rolled her eyes. “He's a show off. Captain's pet. But so is Jill. I think they just like one-upping each other.”

“No kidding.” Rebecca giggled. Chris and Jill were both very competitive people, so naturally they were competitive with each other. People that weren't privy to their already three year relationship might assume that they were rivals, but luckily they never harbored ill will when the other won. It just pushed each of them to try their hardest.

Claire glanced upwards at the clock mounted on the wall. It read half past three. She apologized and excused herself. She didn't want to be the last person to show up for their Friday rendezvous.

“I'll see you Monday for second period, right?”

“Right.” Rebecca flashed a thumbs up. “Have a good weekend, Claire.”

“You too, Rebecca.”

After the girls said their goodbyes, they parted in opposite directions. Rebecca headed towards the front of the school where the visitor parking lot was located. She carefully weaved in and out between pockets of students still conversing in the hall. She was small, but quick on her feet. She'd always wanted to play basket ball, but her short stature proved that difficult.

She spotted one of her friends at her locker as she passed him in the hall. A boy that stood a head taller than her with a mop of red hair carefully swept to the side.

“Hey, Steve!”

Before the boy could even turn his head around to answer, Rebecca was already down the hall and out of earshot. He shook his head. _Must be late for her after school classes. _He thought. Frankly, he didn't understand how she managed to cram as many of the activities that she did in her week. On top of being a straight A student, she took college prep classes and was the sitting vice president of the Horticulture Club. Steve, on the other hand, could hardly get his homework finished on time.

He gathered his books in his arms, fully intending on making an honest attempt at finishing all of his lessons his weekend.... until he got distracted by video games again, that is. He was already excited for the prospect of joining his friends, Joseph and Brad, online to play a a few hours of their favorite video game. Rebecca was more likely to pop in to play with them on the weekends, but it had become far less common as they approached junior year.

He closed his locker carefully with his elbow as he balanced his books in his arm. If he could make it home and then spend two hours doing homework (roughly) he would have the rest of the weekend to play video games and relax. Which, to be entirely honest, he fully deserved after the 82% he scored on his geometry test.

He was planning out his route home – which convenience store he was going to stop at for snacks, what kind of energy drink he wanted.... he was mid decision when a shock of pain shot through his face. He heard his books fall to the ground with a _thump _before he realized he was on the ground too. He was dizzy, and he felt warmth spreading down his face.

“Shit, are you okay? I'm so sorry-”

He blinked a few times. “Y-yeah.” He tried to focus on the figure in front of him, but all his eyes would seem to focus on were a pair of legs clad in tight blue jeans. He wiped his nose on the back of his hand and realized the warmth was blood.

“I wasn't paying attention, I didn't even see you.” She retrieved a red and black patterned bandanna out of the front pocket of her backpack and held it out for him. He took it and held it to his nose. He recognized the girl as a Senior, and vaguely knew who she was but only by name and face. She was relatively popular, but she seemed nice enough (which was always a gamble with the “popular” kids).

Claire held out a hand to pull him up, which he graciously took. She helped him to his feet and he suddenly felt very awkward and uncomfortable. He held the rag to his nose, pinching the bridge lightly as he waited for the bleeding to stop.

“T-thanks.” He stammered.

“I feel like an asshole.” Claire laughed, albeit a bit weakly. “I'm Claire, by the way. Is there anything I can do for you?”

He grinned. “You could give me your number, beautiful.”

And immediately after those words left his mouth, he wished he could take them back.

“I... have a boyfriend.” She stammered. “...b-but, I should probably check up on you.”

Steve blinked. He couldn't help but wonder if this was a dream. Maybe he'd been knocked clean unconscious, or perhaps the head trauma was making him delirious. He watched, incredulously, as Claire pulled a felt tip pen from her bag. She carefully wrote her phone number on Steve's wrist, making sure every single number was legible. “.... I have to go, or I'll be late meeting my friends. ...but, shoot me a text so I know you're alright.”


	2. Beginnings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the awesome response to this so far guys. Makes me happy to feel like I actually want to write something that's not just smut. (Don't get me wrong, I love smut but)

Chris glanced at the time as they passed a electronic store. School had let out almost an hour ago, but he hadn't heard from Claire yet. He was starting to get a bit worried, but he told himself Claire was a fully capable person. He'd taught her some easy self defense moves, and she often carried a small knife in her motorcycle saddle bag, just in case she ran into trouble.

Since they were both in AFROTC, Chris and his girlfriend were always punctual, showing up at least fifteen to twenty minutes before anyone else. Usually that meant either wandering around the mall and window shopping, hitting up the arcade, or getting a coffee and killing time until the others showed up, which ranged from fashionably late to obscenely late.

“Hey, Jill, what do you think about killing time at the arcade while we wait for everyone else?”

“What, you want to lose to me in that light gun game again?” She grinned.

“More that I was thinking I'd beat you in basketball instead.”

“You wish.” The brunette laughed, playfully smacking Chris lightly on the shoulder with the back of her hand. “You know you never beat me at any game.”

Chris fed a five dollar bill into the token machine and scooped the brass coins up excitedly after they fell into the plastic dish with a clatter. He handed Jill half and pocketed the rest.

“What do you want to play first?”

She grinned and grabbed his hand, leading him to her favorite cabinet first. The somewhat dirty screen played images of rotting zombies shambling down a dark hallway before flashing _DEADLY SILENCE_ in a bold, red font. She eagerly pushed six coins into the slot and picked up her preferred gun (blue, of course) while leaving the other for Chris.

“Ready to lose, Redfield?”

“You're awfully cocky, Valentine.” He smirked, picking up the red pistol and readying himself to win.

The game started and they both took out almost all of the enemies on the screen with both head and body shots. Both college students had played the game enough times that they had enemy movements and jump scares memorized. By the end of the levels, Jill had accumulated more points via headshots and Chris sat in second place, shortly behind her.

“Is it really being cocky if I'm the one winning?” She grinned and re-holstered the gun back in it's slot. Chris rolled his eyes at her.

“We can go to the shooting range this weekend if you wanna be like that.” He smirked, patting her backside with a heavy hand.

“I might take you up on that offer. How am I going to get better than you if I don't practice?”

“Where's your _girlfriend?_” Ada purred into Leon's ear, her left cheek brushing up against his right one. Her immaculately manicured fingertips traced his jawline. She buried her face into the nape of his neck and inhaled his scent. His cologne had notes of tobacco and vanilla.

“Jesus, Ada.” He leaned his head away from her, eyes scanning the food court for Claire or her brother. “What have I told you about being discreet in public? You're going to get us caught.”

“I wish you'd just break up with her already.” She giggled. “It's not like you're going to get married... plus, we both know that you have more fun with me. She won't even put out.”

“Ada, I know, but you know I can't just dump her. It would_ destroy_ her. I really do care about her, you know.”

She gave an exaggerated sigh and took the seat across from him at the small table. She crossed her long legs and leaned back in her seat. “It's a shame.”

“I'll make it up to you tonight.” He flashed a smirk, grabbing a few french fries from his plate and dipping them in ketchup. “Promise.” f

“Woah, look at that, Leon's here on time.” Chris grinned as he approached the table with his two friends. Leon was consistently late, and Ada liked to make an entrance, so it was a surprise to see the both of them here before his sister.

“I was hungry.” Leon shrugged. “I was thinking about a meal from Happy Burger, so... here I am.”

“Is it your cheat day?” Jill teased.

“No, but I ran like, six miles this morning. In full gear, too. I deserve this. Plus this,” He pointed to his beverage. “Is plain iced tea.”

Jill rolled her eyes. If she were being honest, she was a little bit jealous that Leon could eat whatever he wanted without gaining weight. He was _supposed _to be on a high protein, low carb diet but often had a couple “cheat days” a week. Since starting basic training for the Police Academy, he'd basically just cut out sugar and cut down on the beer and he lost fifteen pounds. He still had a year to go before he could actually take the test, but getting in shape while he attended basic classes at college was his plan.

“Jill and I are gonna grab some food and we'll see you guys in a minute.” He squeezed her hand lightly and led her away. “What do you wanna get, babe?”

“I should get a salad. Dressing on the side. Grilled chicken.” She wrinkled her nose lightly. All she could think about was Leon's double cheeseburger and french fries, though.

“What do you _want, _though?”

“....god, I want a cheeseburger. All I've had is crappy salads with too little dressing all week.”

Chris laughed. “Then we'll get cheeseburgers. We can split an order of fries if that'll make you feel better.”

She nodded. She could always get up and go for an early morning swim if she felt like she needed to work the extra calories off.... but a cheat day never hurt anyone. “...that'd be great.”

Claire parked her motorcycle carefully. She pulled her helmet off and tucked it under her arm, shaking out her ponytail. The helmet was less than glamorous, but that was the stipulation that she agreed to in order to make Chris happy. He was a little bit of a worrier, even moreso after their parents passed away in a car accident.

She looked up at the time displayed on the large clock tower outside the mall entrance. 4:45. She was late, and honestly surprised that Chris hadn't tried to get in contact with her. Maybe it was because she was almost legally an adult, but he seemed to be trying to let her do her own thing.

Her stomach audibly rumbled as soon as she stepped inside the food court. She didn't waste time looking for her friends at the moment, heading straight towards the pizza place. She ordered two slices with extra pepperoni and a large cola. Once she had her food, she turned to meet up with the rest of the group.

She spotted Leon's perfectly coiffed blonde hair first and couldn't repress a grin. Greasy pizza and the people she cared about was a helluva way to kick off a weekend. She slid into the seat beside him and kissed his cheek.

“Hey.” Leon shifted his attention to Claire.

She smiled, leaning over and stealing a french fry from his plate. “Hey.”

Ada rolled her eyes and excused herself from the table to get a smoothie. “Unlike some people, I'm watching my figure.”

Claire shrugged. She had a naturally high metabolism and took gym every year even though it was an elective. Chris involved her in AROTC training on Sunday mornings, too, so she didn't feel the need to count calories and stress about what she ate.

“How was class?” Leon tore his eyes away from Ada as she walked away in her skin tight jeans to focus on his girlfriend next to him. He smiled at her.

“It was good. I uh, aced that History test that I was worried about. Didn't even stay up too late to study. Gym was nice, we did yoga. I only have a little homework.” She paused to take a bite of her pizza. “Oh, and on the way out I totally walked right into this kid. Gave him a bloody nose and everything... That's why I'm late.”

Leon laughed. “You gave a kid a bloody nose?”

“Yeah. I wasn't paying attention. Just-” She clapped her hands together. “-bam.”

“There she is.” Chris let out a sigh of relief as he returned to the table. He grabbed an extra chair and took a seat. “I was getting worried, what took so long?”

“Claire gave some kid a bloody nose.”

“Did you get into a fight? Is that Alexia girl still giving you trouble?” Jill furrowed her brow lightly.

“No, I just wasn't paying attention. Just ran into him.” She dodged the question about Alexia. Both her and her twin brother did give her a hard time, but it was something she usually was able to deal with pretty easily. She knew that if it came to blows, she could take one, if not both of them in a fight. But she wasn't about to get suspended.

“Oh, yeah, that sounds more like you.” Chris nodded, unwrapping his burger.

Claire laughed. “Why does everyone keep saying that?”

“So what's everyone up to this weekend?”

“We were thinking of going to the shooting range.” Jill leaned forward, clearing everyone's trash and standing up to take it to the trash. Chris always joked she was the Mom friend of the group.

“Oh yeah?” Leon perked up. “That sounds fun.”

“Yeah, Chris wants to show me that he can lose to me in real life too.” Jill grinned.

“See Jill, that's what I'm talking about when I say you're being cocky.”

Ada delivered a single kick to Leon's shin. “Leon, we were going to study together.”

Leon's shoulders slumped a bit at the prospect he wouldn't be able to play with guns at the shooting range. “...yeah, we're studying for our Chemistry test next Thursday.”

“You guys study a lot.” Claire murmured absently. She knew Leon wasn't exactly the smartest person she knew, though he made up for it in other aspects, but she was surprised how much more work Leon had to put into school to maintain a decent GPA.

Leon cleared his throat. “I told you, the Police Academy will only accept me if I pass 20 credit hours.”

“I know. I just feel like I don't get to see you very often anymore.” Claire pouted a bit, squeezing Leon's hand. He squeezed back.

“I know, Claire... but school comes first.” He paused. “...I'll make it up to you, I promise.”

She smiled softly. “Okay. Maybe next weekend.”

Ada rolled her eyes. “We probably could skip studying next week. No big tests coming up.”

“Speaking of studying, I have homework that I need to get done...” Claire dug her phone out of the small pocket on her backpack and flipped it open to check the time. The digital clock read _6:45_ and a small icon showed she had an unread text message. A bit of excitement welled up in her stomach but she put it away to read later. She shouldered her bag and stood. “I'll catch you guys later though, yeah?”

“Be careful.” Chris said somewhat sternly. Even though he loved motorcycles, he worried about his younger sister on one.

“I will.” She chuckled and leaned forward, planting a soft kiss on Leon's lips. “Bye, Leon. I'll talk to you later. Have fun studying with Ada, I guess.”

“Oh, don't worry.” Ada smiled her coy little smile. “We will.”


	3. Cozying Up

“Billy!”

“Hey, Dollface.” Billy smirked lightly, watching the younger girl climb into the passenger seat of his car. He leaned forward and kissed her softly. “How was school?”

“It was good.” She smiled, tucking her backpack carefully behind her seat. “I missed you, though.”

Billy laughed. “I missed you too, Rebecca.” He squeezed her thigh lightly. “...even though I saw you yesterday.”  
“....yeah, I know.” She smiled sheepishly. “But still. I was really looking forward to the weekend so I could see you.”

“Well, I'm glad that you and I can finally spend some time together, Princess.”

She grinned. When Billy called her pet names, it gave her butterflies in her stomach and she felt like she was on the top of the world. She loved that this older guy, especially one as smart and beautiful as Billy Coen, He was so _distinguished_, unlike the boys her age. The boys her age had very little (to no) interest in education, most of the time didn't even care about their appearance, and could barely hold a conversation with her. But, Billy was different. He was kind, attentive, and an amazing chef.

He was a health and physical education major, with a minor in nutrition. He was set to graduate this year from the undergrad program at the college, though he had no immediate plans for work after graduation. They rarely got to spend time during the week with all of the finals and projects they had between them, but the entire weekend was usually spent together. Of course, Rebecca had to lie about her plans to her Mom, not to mention her friends, because they wouldn't approve of her older paramour.

“Whats for dinner tonight?” She buckled her seat belt, signaling to Billy that she was ready to go. “I just had veggies and hummus for lunch, so I'm starving.”

“I have some really nice salmon thawing at home right now, and I've got all the ingredients for a kale and apple salad with a light vinaigrette. Hows that sound, dollface?”

She felt her mouth water a bit as he listed off ingredients. “That sounds so good.”

“Well then lets get going then.” He smirked as he shifted his car into reverse and pulled out of his parking space.

Claire managed to make it to her motorcycle before she couldn't handle the mystery anymore and opened the text message. She flipped her phone open and shielded the small screen from the sun that was already beginning to set. The message from was from a number she didn't have saved in her phone book.

_Got the bleeding 2 stop. Sore but ok. See you @ school monday?_

She found herself smiling. She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but there was something about that boy that she found incredibly intriguing. Maybe it was just because she didn't want to spend the whole weekend alone, with Leon off studying with Ada and her brother and Jill busy competing to best each other, but she found herself composing a text back.

_Glad to hear it. _She carefully typed out, wishing that she had a top of the line cell phone with a keyboard like some of the kids in school had, but couldn't complain about Chris paying for a cellphone plan in the first place. She sent the message and her fingers hovered over the number keys for a moment before she composed a second message. _Do you want to do something with me tomorrow? If you're feeling up to it._

She closed her phone and went to tuck it into her backpack when it vibrated with a return text. She blinked, honestly surprised that she'd received a response that quickly.

_Idk, like what?_

She paused, considering for a second. _What kind of music do you like?_ _There's a Queen cover band playing at Jack's Bar tomorrow. All ages. _She pulled her helmet on over the top of her head and straddled her cherry red Harley as she waited for the inevitably quick response.

Awesome_. Im totally in._

Claire found herself immediately relieved and a bit nervous for tomorrow. She couldn't remember the last time she felt genuinely excited for an event. Leon was just always so busy with studying, the police academy and college that she often found herself skipping events in order to not be a third wheel with Jill and Chris. She typed out one last text before putting her phone away and starting her motorcycle.

_Great. I'll text you tomorrow then. :)_

Leon followed Ada through the doorway of her posh loft (which was entirely funded by her parents) and paused in the foyer to remove his combat boots. (“The carpets are white and I would prefer to keep them that way, Leon.”) He placed them on the small shoe rack by the door and tucked his socks inside.

“Would you like anything to drink?” She asked, her shoes joining Leon's on the rack before she sauntered through the living room and into the kitchen to pour herself a glass of white wine.

“Do you have any of that whiskey left?”  
“I thought you stopped drinking.”

“Oh god, no. I cut down on beer and only drink on weekends.” He corrected her with a smug smile. “There are zero carbs in whiskey, and like, a hundred calories. Negligible, basically.”

“Let me guess, on the rocks?” She rolled her eyes to herself as she stood on tip-toes to retrieve the bottle

Leon grinned and took a seat on the big, black leather couch that was situated in the middle of the living room. The sun was setting through the large windows, washing Ada's apartment with pink and yellow. He much preferred spending time at Ada's place rather than his own. Not only was hers bigger and immaculately clean (she had a cleaning service scheduled once a week to help her keep up the place), she kept the place well stocked and he loved the carefully chosen pieces to create ambiance. Ada knew what she liked, and he was very glad that she liked him.

She returned, handing Leon his glass with a single spherical ice cube and the whiskey he had requested. He brought the rim to his nose and breathed deeply, letting the smoky, medicinal scent waft over him. He sipped it.

“Oh, god, yeah. That's the spot.” He sighed as the alcohol burned slightly down his throat.

She sat beside him and crossed her legs, clutching the bottom of her wine glass in her palm. “A little premature, don't you think? We haven't even started yet.”

“Oh, believe me, Ada, you're going to be the one saying that soon enough.” He smirked, giving the spot just above her knee a hard squeeze. “We're going to work off all of the stress from the week and you won't even be able to stand when I'm done with you.”

“Oh yeah? I'll believe it when I see it.” She smirked at him over her glass of chardonnay.

“You won't believe who texted me earlier.” Steve said into his gaming headset, _maybe _just a bit too excited. He didn't even wait for his friends to respond before he blurted out the answer to his own question. “Claire Redfield.”

“Like, the tall redhead, Claire Redfield?” Joseph's voice came through the earpiece. He did sound genuinely surprised.

“Yeah.” He paused for a second to take a hit off of his pipe. He'd freshly packed it with locally grown, organic Raccoon City green herb before they hopped into a game lobby. He found it helped soothe his anxiety (unless he smoked too much, then that was a whole different issue.)

“No way. Why would she even want to talk to you?”

He coughed. “She gave me a bloody nose.”

“Is that what they're calling it these days?” Joseph smirked.  
“I wish.” He rolled his eyes. “Maybe my face wouldn't be as sore... We're supposed to go to a concert tomorrow.”

“Like a date? Or does she just feel bad?” Joseph asked through a mouthful of chips.

“Maybe? I mean, I dunno, she did say she has a boyfriend.”

“Yeah, she's dating an older guy. I heard he's a police officer.” A short hiss as Joseph opened a can of soda. It fizzed as he lifted it to his mouth. “Are you sure she asked you on a date?”

Steve swallowed hard. Suddenly his mouth was dry, and he wasn't sure if it was because of the herb or because of Joseph's mention that Claire's boyfriend could rightfully kick Steve's ass if he wanted to. “No. Maybe it's like, a group thing? She didn't say it wasn't.”

“Yeah, maybe.” He paused for a second. “What's taking Brad and Forest so long? I'm about to just start without them.”

As if on cue, Forest's screen name popped up into the lobby. There was some rustling on the other side of his mic before his slight southern drawl came through the speakers.

“Sorry A'hm late.”

“Just on time, Speyer. I was getting impatient. I'm ready to blow some shit up, aren't you?”


	4. Crazy Little Thing Called Love

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> still running polls on my twitter (as of this chapter being posted @burnside_fan) if anyone wants to get in on that.
> 
> How do we like the format? I like being able to jump between characters. Is it confusing? annoying? Do we like longer chapters or shorter?

Claire ran her fingers through her freshly washed hair as she pulled it into a high ponytail and secured it with a black elastic. She took a soft brush and used it took sweep a light dusting of peach blush across her cheekbones. She didn't really wear makeup (in fact, the blush she was using belonged to Jill) but she wasn't against just a bit to make her features 'pop', as her brother's girlfriend had put it. She finished off her routine with a couple of swipes of mascara, a spritz of perfume and called it good to go.

Her outfit wasn't too out of the ordinary, but she'd swapped her usual pair of jeans for a tighter, darker pair made out of a particularly shiny material. They sat low on her hips, accentuating her hipbones. She topped it with a black t-shirt and her favorite vest. She felt dressed up and flashy, almost like she were going on a first date. _But,_ she told herself, _it's not a date. We're just going to a show._

She sat down on the edge of her bed and pulled her motorcycle boots on over her skinny jeans. A quick double check to make sure she had cash, and off she went.

“Bye, Chris! I'll be back later tonight.”

“Be safe.” He called back as the door closed behind her. The lock clicked shut and he smiled at Jill. “I guess that means we have the night to ourselves.”

“Well, isn't that a nice turn of events.” Jill smirked. “I'm sure we can figure out something to do.” She planted a hand on Chris's muscular thigh.

Claire straddled her motorcycle, feeling the low vibrations run through her body. She found it incredibly calming. The slight smell of gasoline, the rumble of the engine, the feel of the handles and the cool metal of the clutch in her hand. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and composed a message to Steve.

_Meet you there. I'm leaving now._ She sent the message and tucked her phone away in the saddle bag just past her waist. She made sure everything was secured and ready to go before sweeping her ankle back and flipping the kickstand up.

She loved the wind in her face, especially in the early evening hours just after the sun set. On the nights she had trouble sleeping, she would hop on her bike and take a ride through the empty streets (without a helmet, but she would never tell Chris that detail) to relax herself. Once she was home, she slept like a baby.

As she pulled up and parked her motorcycle, she spotted Steve's familiar red tufts in the back oft the line waiting to get in the door. She smiled inwardly, feeling a bit of excitement well up in her stomach. She told herself it was for the band. She honestly couldn't remember the last time she was out and about on a weekend.

“Hey.”

Steve bristled a bit, almost as if he hadn't been expecting her. “...hey.” His eyes darted behind her, looking for her brother or boyfriend. “Wow, you look ...awesome.” He murmured, his eyes lingering on her slick pants hugging her hips. He cleared his throat and tore his eyes away. “Is anyone else coming?”

“Thanks.” She smiled softly, wondering briefly if she was supposed to bring someone with her. “What do you mean?”

“I... wasn't sure if this was a group thing, or just us.” He felt a heat creep across his cheeks. He suddenly felt self conscious.

“Oh, just us. My brother likes Queen too, but I think he's taking the chance to stay in with his girlfriend. And my boyfriend is studying.” She couldn't help but roll her eyes. She couldn't help but be annoyed by Leon's new habits. Before they were dating, it was like pulling teeth getting that boy to spend any time on school work. “So yeah. Just us.” She faltered. “...is that okay?”

“Yeah. No, it's great. ...You're just like, really pretty.” He heard himself give a short, slightly uncomfortable laugh. “I'm sorry.”

She laughed, an underlying tone of nervousness in hers as well. “It's okay. Thank you.”

“...so, do you smoke herb?” He blurted out after a short, somewhat awkward silence.

She blinked a few times, not sure if she'd heard him correctly. “Like...”

“Like, I have a joint. We can share it. Makes music sound awesome.”

She hesitated for a moment. She hadn't ever had any, but Chris had some occasionally to help short term pain, usually strained muscles and aches from AFROTC.

“Is it safe?”

“I mean, it's locally grown and organic.” He shrugged. “...but, I don't want you to feel like I'm pressuring you. I just like it for my anxiety. I'm going to smoke it, but you don't have to smoke it with me.”

“...I mean, I'll try it. If you're already going to smoke it.” She tried to play it cool. She considered herself to be very “good”, so it felt exhilarating to do something her brother might consider “bad.”

He glanced towards the doors as people started to file in. The opening band would probably go on first, meaning they had a little bit of time to get acquainted with each other before the show started. “Follow me. Lets take a little walk.”

Steve led her down the road to a small park a few blocks away from the venue. This time of evening, it was deserted. There was a cool breeze rolling through the trees and the nearly full moon lit up the area well enough for both of them to see. He found himself staring at her and the way the moonlight caught her bright blue eyes and he busied himself with fishing the joint out of his pocket.

Claire sat cross legged across from him. She ran her palms over the ground, feeling the different thicknesses and lengths of the grass and trying to calm her nerves. She felt nervous, both about partaking in what kids in her grade jokingly called 'jazz cabbage' and about the way Steve was making her feel. What bothered her the most was that it wasn't unwelcome – in fact, it was the opposite of that. Leon hadn't made her feel this way in months, at least, and there was an element of it that felt wrong.

Steve leaned forward holding the small rolled paper for Claire to take. She put it between her lips. He fumbled with a lighter and cupped the flame to shield it from the breeze until the end lit.

The smoke was arid and somewhat harsh. She wrinkled her nose lightly. It didn't smell bad, but it did smell.... different than she'd been expected. Earthy, almost medicinal with a slightly sweet undertone. She took two draws off of the small hand rolled cigarette and passed it to Steve. She tried to hold it in her lungs as long as she could, but only lasted for a couple of seconds before a cough wrenched her chest and the smoke came spilling out.

Steve laughed, taking a few hits with ease. He held onto it, leaning his head back after a moment to let the smoke furl from his mouth. He took another two puffs before handing it to Claire. He had a much higher tolerance, and he wanted to keep Claire from getting too high and not enjoying herself. “Slowly.” He cautioned.

“I will.” She took a small puff followed by a deeper one. “...I don't feel anything yet.”

He laughed again. Part of him felt like he was corrupting her. “It takes a minute.”  
She passed it back. “Oh.”

“Yeah.” He found himself staring again, the joint hanging out of his mouth as it slowly burned down. The way that she moved was captivating. He caught himself and mumbled another apology. “Do you feel anything yet?”

She shook her head after a moment as though she'd been considering. “I don't feel any different.”  
“I jus' don't want you to overdo it.” He passed it back to her. They shared the last half until they risked burning the tips of their fingers. He climbed to his feet and stretched, feeling the blood rush back to his legs. He reached down to pull her up. Her fingers felt clumsy as she wrapped her hand around Steve's and stumbled to her feet.

Her head felt a bit fuzzy, like she was floating and her body had a mild tingle all over. It was very pleasant. She found herself giggling. “Oh, _now_ I feel it.”

“Oh, good.” He took a few steps back towards the venue, keeping his hand clasped tightly around Claire's. Her skin felt good against his, warm and soft. She smelled nice, too, he noticed.

She let him lead her, just enjoying the quiet walk back. All of her anxiety had melted away and was replaced with a contented, warm feeling. She was vaguely aware that they were still holding hands, but it didn't seem like a pressing issue. She liked they way this felt. She liked the way that _he _made her feel, and she found herself wishing Leon treated her like this.

“Do you want to help me chop veggies for the salad, dollface?”

Rebecca looked up from her homework and hopped to her feet from the island in Billy's kitchen. She was finding it hard to concentrate on her work anyway. “Yeah.”

He pulled a heavy wooden cutting board and a sharp knife out for her. He kept his kitchen meticulously organized and even though Rebecca had been seeing the older man for a while now, she still didn't know where most things went.

She looked at the veggies sitting freshly washed in a large bowl beside the sink and heard her stomach growl. She regretted not eating more for lunch. She made quick work of the kale first, chopping it into manageable pieces and placing it in a smaller bowl. Next came the apples (of which she snuck a few pieces while Billy had his back turned) and then the walnuts. Billy liked to keep his salads simple, but flavorful.

“Looks great, dollface.” Billy smiled at her over his shoulder as he started to lay the salmon fillets in the pan to sear them. They sizzled with the heat.

She bounced lightly, unable to contain her excitement. Billy was an excellent cook, and not only did she love to spend time with him, but she always looked forward to Friday night dinner. She got to pick up healthy tips on cooking, and Billy never scrimped on the best quality ingredients.

“That smells so good.” She peeked around him to get a good look at what he was doing. He squeezed a half of a lemon over the fish and the juice burned away once it hit the iron pan.

He chuckled. “The vinaigrette is in the fridge. Why don't you toss the salad for me and set the table, Princess?”

Claire felt the music wash over her as they stepped into the venue. She'd been here before when they had all ages events, but everything seemed so much more intense in a wonderful way. The lights swiveled and flashed in time to the music. The opening band finished up their final song and then thanked the audience.

“I'm going to get a coke. Do you want one?” Steve asked, leaning in close to Claire. He could smell her perfume again, a scent that reminded him a little bit of earl grey tea.

“Oh god, that sounds awesome. My mouth is really dry.” She wet her lips. She started to feel her anxiousness bubble back up.   
Steve laughed. He barely remembered the first time he got high, but Claire seemed to be taking it very well. He made his way to the bar and ordered two cokes. He was pleasantly surprised when they came garnished with a cherry.

“Here,” He handed Claire her glass, which she graciously accepted. She sipped it, savoring the cold drink.

“Thanks.” She swallowed hard. “....is it really hot in here, or is it just me?”

“It's kinda hot.” Steve looked around at all of the people in the room. Even though it was cool outside, the body heat and heat coming off of the lights made the venue much warmer.

She was silent for a moment, focusing on the soda in her hand. “...I just feel really hot. Like, almost suffocating. I can't breathe.” She started to look around for the exit.

“I saw a couple empty booths against the far wall over there. Lets go sit.” He took her elbow and guided her carefully through the, thankfully thin, crowd to the back of the bar. Most of the people were pressed up against the stage, save for the small groups of people having conversations towards the bar.

“Sometimes if you use too much green herb, it can make you anxious.” Steve murmured once they were tucked into the furthest booth.

“I thought you said it helped.” Claire furrowed her brow. Her heart pounded in her chest and she didn't know what to do with her hands, so she clasped them around her glass.

“It does. For me. You just had too much. Close your eyes and breathe.” He leaned forward and squeezed her hand lightly. “No use in getting worked up.”

She nodded a few times and screwed her eyes shut, trying to focus on her breathing. She heard a few familiar guitar strings that she almost immediately recognized as a cover of Queen's Under Pressure. She felt around on the table for Steve's hand and laced her fingers with his.

He swallowed hard, but did nothing to stop her or pull away. He was thankful that this portion of the venue was especially dark, because he did _not_ want word getting back to Claire's boyfriend that she was holding hands with some twerp.

They sat in silence for a while until Claire finally cleared her voice to speak.

“...you were right, the music does sound better.”

Steve laughed. “Yeah. Do you feel better?”

She nodded after a second of consideration. Her anxiety had dissipated, her heart rate slowed, though her mouth was still uncomfortably dry. She withdrew her hand from Steve's and took a few large swallows of her now slightly watered down soda. She wiped away some of the condensation on the glass with her thumb.

“Sorry, I shouldn't have let you smoke as much.” Steve apologized after a moment, feeling a small pang of guilt.

She gave a short laugh. “I'm fine. I just....felt like too much for a minute, that's all. I'm tough.” She looked towards the stage. “...can we move up there now?”

“Absolutely.” He scooted to the end of the cushioned seat and stood. He held a hand to help her to her feet.

“Thanks.” She smiled. She noticed the way he was always happy to help her up, and she very much appreciated it. She wasn't sure if Leon had ever offered to help her up, hold a door for her, or brought her a drink.

“Of course. You should always treat a lady like a princess.” Steve gave a cheesy grin.


	5. Dreaming

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lets see, this includes a dream sequence that I am a little bit over dramatic in for the funsies. 
> 
> A forewarning that Leon is kind of a prick and that's really getting into full swing. 
> 
> I'm starting to settle into the main characters of this being Steve and Claire, with everyone else taking a backseat, but I have some other characters I want to bring in. 
> 
> anyways I love the kudos and the comments. Thanks for the encouragement guys xoxo

Immediately upon arriving home in the early hours of the morning, Claire directly headed for the bathroom. She wanted a shower. Not only to wash off the layer of sweat that had formed on her from dancing at the show, but also to make sure the scent of the green herb didn't linger. She buried her now dirty clothes in the bottom of the hamper and changed into fresh, new pajamas.

Chris and Jill were asleep, thankfully, or at least had the door shut and the lights off. It was no surprise, really, since most mornings they got up and went for a after sunrise jog. She grabbed a glass of ice water and went up to bed.

She was tired, and there was a bit of soreness in her ribs from laughing so much. She couldn't remember the last time she had so much fun, her bout of anxiety included. She wondered if Leon would have treated her the same way in that situation. Steve remained calm and kind throughout the duration of her panic attack, but she imagined Leon would have been annoyed and, maybe even worst case scenario, left her alone in the back of the bar to deal with it.

She wrinkled her nose. When was the last time Leon had actually made her feel like she was actually his girlfriend? It had been months since they had even spent more than an hour or two alone together – and most of those encounters ended with Claire being frustrated and Leon pushing sex. She would go without talking to him for a few days and then the cycle would start back over.

Did she really want to be with someone who pushed her boundaries and tried to guilt her into things she didn't want to do? Hell, did she even want to be in a “relationship” with Leon anymore, or was it just the easy thing to do?

She sighed heavily and rubbed her eyes until white stars bloomed on the backside of her eyelids. The thought of breaking up with Leon made the panic begin to well back up in her chest. They had been together for nearly two years, why throw away such a long relationship just because he was so busy with police training? Surely he would have more time to spend with her when he graduated and got into the Raccoon City Police Department. Maybe she just needed to bring up her feelings to Leon.

She threw the covers off of her and swung her feet over the edge of the bed. Maybe a cup of tea would calm her nerves and help put her to sleep. Even without having school in the morning, she knew she would be useless a good chunk of Saturday if she didn't go to sleep soon. She stood on her tiptoes and stretched as far as her muscles would allow, feeling one of her shoulders pop and release tension.

Claire quietly made her way to the kitchen and ran some warm water into a coffee mug. She stuck it in the microwave and set it for two minutes. As the appliance roared with electricity and the mug spun in place, she dug through the cabinets for tea. She added a bit of honey and carefully carried the mug back to her room.

She sat on her bed, clasping the warm mug between her palms and taking a long drink. She focused on the herbal steam rising into her face, the taste of the slightly sweet tea and taking deep breaths. She suddenly recalled the way Steve had made her felt and how much her face hurt from smiling. The knot in her stomach loosened and she felt relaxed enough to try sleeping again. She placed the nearly empty mug on her bedside table and surrounded herself with blankets. She nuzzled against her favorite pillow and the last image in her mind before she drifted to sleep was the way Steve grinned when he made a stupid joke.  
  


_Claire found herself gazing into the bright blue eyes of Steve Burnside. He had his well toned and muscular arms wrapped around her and they were making skin to skin contact. He trailed the tips of his fingers expertly down the curve of her spine, his hand coming to rest just before her backside._

_ She shivered and leaned up, brushing her lips lightly against his. He was warm. The way that he held her made her feel like she was home. Every small touch from his bare skin sent an electric shock through her body to her stomach._

_ She brushed his red hair from his face and traced his jawbone with her pointer finger, taking in every splendid detail about his face. His cupid's bow was pronounced with a very rounded bottom lip, perfect for kissing, Claire decided. She loved how expressive his eyes were, and the way the corner of his mouth would wrinkle when he smirked._

_ She blinked and his features began to change. His nose widened and his cheeks filled out. The shape of his chin changed from squared to more rounded, and his hair changed to a deeper brown and morphed off of his face as if it were a slow-motion shot of him brushing it upwards. _

_ Suddenly, Leon stared back at her. She recoiled immediately, wrapping her arms around her naked upper body to hide it from Leon's gaze. Her skin felt sticky. She was hot, and embarrassed all of the sudden. It didn't feel the same as it had with Steve. _

_ “Come on, Claire. We've already made it this far.” Leon grinned. It was impossibly wide, like it took up half of his face. She swore his eyes flashed red for a second. “Don't be a tease. I'll make you feel __**so**_ _good, I promise.” _

_ She shook her head vigorously. She hated when he said those words. They cut her to the core, made her feel like she wasn't worthy of being his girlfriend because she didn't put out. She felt guilty, hurt and confused all at once. “I don't want to.”_

_ “Come on, Claire. It'll be fun.” He laughed, low and almost ominous, and it reverberated around her. Almost immediately, she felt her stomach growing. Within moments, she was sporting a full sized pregnancy belly. In horror, she watched a small hand press against the flesh of her stomach._

Claire woke up in a cold sweat and immediately threw the covers off to inspect her stomach. She sighed in relief as she saw that it was as flat as it ever was. The mid-morning light filtering through the curtains caught her hip bones in the light and she touched them lightly. She noticed her hands were shaking.  
  
_Just a dream._ She told herself, rubbing her toned tummy. She coaxed herself to her feet after a few moments, feeling like she needed another shower – right now. It almost felt like she had to wash the remnants of the nightmare away.

The house was still as she walked slowly through the hall to her bathroom. Jill and Chris were nowhere to be found, Chris's door left wide open and both of their running shoes gone from the front entryway. She closed her bathroom door just in case and turned the shower almost as high as it would go.

She stood naked with her bare feet pressed against the cool tile as steam filled the room. She enjoyed the sound of the water splattering across the tile for a moment before she stepped in and tensed. She quickly turned the knob down a bit, relaxing into the water once it was a more palatable temperature.

Claire remained in the shower until her fingers and toes pruned and the water began to run cold. She wanted to reach out to Steve, but felt like she should reach out to Leon first. She decided to postpone her decision for a few moments and make a pot of coffee.

Leon's phone vibrated in the pocket of his denim that lay strewn across the wooden floor of Ada's bedroom. He glanced over his shoulder at Ada to make sure she was still sleeping before carefully climbing out of bed and retrieving his phone. He had a couple of new messages, including one from Claire.

_Hey, can we get together soon?_

He hesitated to answer that one, going to check his other messages first. He had one from one of the other RPD hopefuls, Jack Krauser. Odd, he only usually texted him when it came to the training schedule, but there was nothing coming up soon. He opened the message and it was a picture message. Even stranger.

It loaded slowly and when it did, it was a low light picture of Claire holding hands with some red headed twerp. He furrowed his brow, staring at it. Could it be a fake? Why would Krauser even take the time to photoshop a very grainy, low light picture like this? They weren't super close, in fact, he wasn't even sure Krauser knew his name – he always called Leon “Comrade.”

He ignored the other messages and pulled his pants on. He finished getting dressed and leaned over Ada, kissing her temple gently to wake her up. “Hey, babe.”

She made a soft sound as she opened her eyes. “Mm?”

“I gotta get going, something came up.” He pocketed his phone. “Wanna lock up behind me?”

Steve nearly rolled off his bed when his phone gave a very loud notification. He really didn't text much, or have many people to text – most of the time he was gaming online with the only friends he would talk to, excluding Rebecca these days. He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and fumbled for his small phone which he'd, surprisingly, remember to plug in last night. He flipped it open and squinted to read the message. It was from Claire. He couldn't help but grin like an idiot as he sat on his bedroom floor in nothing but his boxers.

_I had a lot of fun last night. Thanks for taking care of me._

He started composing a message almost before he finished reading hers.

_Yw!! thanks 4 taking me 2 the show. I had fun 2.  
_He waited a moment before he hit send, not wanting to make it seem like he had been waiting for her to contact him. He climbed back into bed, phone in hand, and got comfortable back under the covers. He drifted to sleep again before Claire responded.

Leon made his way to the Redfield's house as quickly as he could. He only called Claire once he was sitting in the driveway. Upon arrival, he noticed that Chris's car was absent from the driveway and half expected to run into the boy Claire had been hanging out with the night before.

“Hey. I was on my way home when you texted me, so I figured I'd swing by.”

She blinked a few times, staring at her phone before putting it back to her ear. The small voice in the back of her head asked where he'd been all night that he was just leaving at 9am, but she ignored it for the moment. She hung up and let him in the front door.

“I didn't catch you at a bad time, did I?” He asked, pausing in the entryway. He didn't think he'd ever seen her in her pajamas, much less fresh out of the shower. Her still wet hair clung to the side of her head and tops of her shoulders and her skin practically glowed. “....you know I love it when you wear your hair down.” He smirked softly.

“I just... had a bad dream so I didn't sleep well, that's all. Took a shower to see if it'd help.” She touched the bottom of her pajama top anxiously before changing the subject. “I made coffee. Do you want some?”

“Yeah, that sounds great. Just black. Thanks.” He accepted the mug of freshly brewed coffee and took a seat at the somewhat cluttered kitchen table. It wasn't that Claire and Chris's house was _messy,_ exactly, but it could be incredibly cluttered at time.

She joined him after a moment at the table with her own cup of coffee, far from black. She felt uneasy sitting next to him and blamed it on the dream she'd had.

“I miss you.” She heard herself say after a minute. She almost felt disconnected from herself, almost like she was watching herself sit at her kitchen table. “I feel like you don't have any time for me. You're just....studying all the time.” She took a long drink of her coffee.

“I'm sorry. It's.... just, really important. …what'd you end up doing last night?” He shifted the conversation back to her.

She blinked, not expecting the question. “Oh.... Well, I went out with my friend to catch that Queen cover band playing last night.”

“Friend? Is this friend a boy?” Leon frowned at her. She felt an immediate pang of guilt. How'd he know?

“Yeah. His name is Steve.” She picked at a loose thread on her pajamas absently, keeping her focus off of Leon. Her face was red. She was a bit ashamed. “But we're just friends. I swear.”

“Well.... my friend told me that he saw you two holding hands last night. That sounds too friendly. That guy isn't planning on moving in on my girl, is he?”

She felt like she'd been punched in the gut. She struggled to take a deep breath. “N-no. I mean, we did hold hands for a second, but only because I was having a panic attack. He was just helping me through it. I swear.”

“Do you promise?” He cocked an eyebrow. He was willing to forgive her. Hand holding was a relatively tame offense, especially if she was telling the truth. Maybe he didn't have any reason to distrust her and she had just spend the evening with a friend.

“Yeah. He's.... kinda nerdy. Not really my type.” She forced a laugh and hoped it didn't sound insincere. “We're just friends.” She said. She wasn't sure if she was assuring Leon, or herself.

“Well.... that's good to hear.” Leon seemed to relax a bit, leaning back against his chair and running a hand through his hair to fix it. “I'll try to be better about making time for you, Claire. How about we plan to do something tomorrow? We can even spend the whole day together. I don't want you to feel like I'm neglecting you.”

“Yeah.” She found herself smiling at the prospect of a whole day to spend with Leon. “I think that sounds great. What do you want to do?”

“What about lunch and a movie?”

She grinned now. “Can we go to that burger place? The one with the fried pickles?”

He chuckled and leaned forward, grabbing her hand. “We can go wherever you want. And it's my treat, too.”


	6. Billy & Rebecca

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> uhhh, I've been sick this weekend so I've been just....writing fanfiction. 
> 
> It's a Billy and Rebecca chapter y'all. I still have so many characters I'm supposed to introduce. I'll figure it out.

“Morning, Princess.” Billy murmured, still laying flat on his stomach with the pillow covering his head as Rebecca carefully sat on the edge of the bed, readying herself for her morning run.

“Morning, Billy.” She smiled, glancing at him over her shoulder. “I was trying to not wake you. I know you like to sleep in on the weekends.”

“Is it that time already?” He sighed.

“You can go back to sleep. I'll be back in an hour or so. Do you want me to stop at the coffee shop on the way back?”

“Thank you, dollface.” He murmured, sleep still nearly obscuring his words (and the pillow didn't help.)

She giggled and pulled her tennis shoes on. “Okay. I'll see you in a bit.” She tucked his extra house key in her pocket with some cash and she was off.

She took a moment to enjoy the still cool air and stretched to ready her muscles. She always felt so relaxed when she slept over at Billy's house, but she was determined to not let that get in the way of her routine. She always felt even better when she got her coffee and headed back to his house to spend a few more hours with him.

She wasn't surprised to find him sleeping again, snoring even, in the same position as she left him in when she returned. She sat his coffee on his bedside table (his order was always the same, brewed coffee with almond milk and light sweetener) and set hers on the opposite table (the only time she really went for sweet, she loved the caramel machiatto with extra whipped cream and chocolate chips that they offered at the cafe close to Billy's place) and went to take a shower.

When she emerged, Billy had stirred and was sitting upright in bed with his coffee. She giggled, clutching the towel around herself as she felt Billy's gaze on her. She dropped the towel once she approached the bed, slowly bending down to grab a fresh pair of underwear from her bag. She leaned forward, slowly pulling them up her legs and making sure to wiggle her backside for Billy's enjoyment. She pulled her pants on next, then a somewhat baggy t-shirt over top.

She sat,cross legged, on the bed next to Billy and took her first sip of coffee. “So, what do you have planned for us today?”

“Well, I figured since we stayed in and watched that movie last night, we could get out of the house for a while. How do you feel about the History and Science Museum?”

“I think that sounds great.” She grinned. Billy knew she loved museums. The one in Raccoon City had a great medical exhibit that she couldn't get enough of. She loved learning about anything and all things related to health, and maybe had a bit of a morbid fascination with some of the turn of the century stuff. She also heard they had recently opened up a temporary virology exhibit and that had very much piqued her interest.

He squeezed her thigh. “Then it's a plan. We can get breakfast and spend the day at the museum.”

She giggled, leaning into the older man. “You're so great.”  
  


Chris was surprised to find his sister cleaning their house when he came through the door. The clutter on the kitchen table had been put away, the junk mail that had piled up over the past few weeks recycled, the dishes done and put away (which normally was a chore they argued over), and she was currently in the process of sweeping.

“Woah. What's going on?” He set his gym bag down. “...is everything okay?”

“Yeah.” She replied, almost too quickly, followed by, “...kinda.”

He frowned lightly. He could always tell when his sister was upset. She wasn't exactly great at hiding her emotions. Maybe she could fool people that weren't as close to her, but she could never fool him. “What's going on, Claire?”

She hesitated for a minute, staring at him before looking away. “It's complicated.”

“I have time.”

She swallowed hard and swept all of the crumbs and dust into a small pile on the floor. She bent down to sweep them into her dust pan and while she had her eyes averted she spoke.

“It's...complicated, because I don't know how I'm supposed to feel. I went on... I don't know if it was a date, but I went out with this boy that I met at school yesterday.” She straightened her back and made brief eye contact with her brother as she thought exactly how she wanted to word her next statement to leave out certain details. “...We went to that Queen cover show. He made me feel giddy, and nervous. I got really anxious there and he took care of me. I had fun. I had a lot of fun with a boy for the first time in months, and he isn't my boyfriend.”

“Okay.” Chris nodded once, taking in her words. “So what's the problem? You can hang out with anyone you want to, boys or not. Is Leon telling you otherwise? Because I can talk to him if that's the case-”  
“The problem is the way that Steve made me feel.”

“Steve is your new friend?”

She nodded, absently tracing the plastic bit on the top of the broom. “Yeah. His name is Steve. He's kinda nerdy.” She found herself smiling. “But he's sweet. Like, he's such a nice guy, Chris. He makes me feel... like the way that Leon _used _to. He makes me feel special. When he looks at me, my stomach hurts.” She dropped her voice to just above a whisper, as though someone other than her brother might hear her. It didn't feel right. Cheating was one of the absolute worst things one could do, and she felt like she had almost cheated.

“Your stomach hurts?”

“Like,” She struggled to put her feelings into words. “It's like, hot, in the pit of my stomach, and it's so intense, it almost hurts.”

“Well, Claire, I can't tell you how you should approach this. But what I will say, is that you should take the time to figure out what you want. Listen to your gut.”

She was silent for a moment before she nodded. “Yeah. ….I'm supposed to go on a date with Leon tomorrow. I'm going to think about it for a while.”

“That's my girl.” He patted Claire on the shoulder.

She wrinkled her nose and looked up at her brother. “Ugh...you need a shower.”

He laughed. “I know. I'll leave you to your cleaning.”

Leon sighed into the receiver of his phone. He tapped his foot lightly on the ground and leaned back in his desk chair. “I know that you're not thrilled about that, Ada, but Claire _is _my girlfriend, as you're so happy to point out.”

“I just don't really think it's fair-”

“I don't want to hear it. I spent the night with you this weekend, not to mention all of the times I made you cum last night.” He smirked and she could hear it in his voice. He could be downright cocky. “I'll make it up to you if it's that big of a deal, but I'm spending the day with Claire tomorrow. End of story.”

She sighed this time, curling one of the strands of jet black hair around her well manicured finger. “Fine. But you best believe you're making it up to me, Leon. I want fancy dinner, a nice bottle of wine, and you to myself all tomorrow night.”

He chuckled. “You drive a hard bargain, Ada.... I gotta get going though, I have actual studying to do.”

“Just don't forget, you're mine, Leon.” The tone in her voice sent a shiver down Leon's spine and he found himself already excited to spend the night with her again.

“Of course. I'll talk to you later, Ada.”

“See you around.” She smirked softly before hanging the call up. She was already plotting all of the ways she was going to have Leon 'make it up to her.

Rebecca found herself almost unreasonably excited as they stood in line to pay for the museum. Even though she made regular trips to the museum, they had recently updated the medical exhibit and had a touring virology exhibit, sponsored by one of city's biggest employers, Umbrella Pharmaceuticals. It seemed a bit silly to her that the company responsible for making medications to cure some of the illnesses documented would be so proud to put their name on the exhibit, but ultimately it didn't really matter.

“Can we go to the virology exhibit first?” She asked, pointing to the wing directly right to the entrance.

“Whatever you want, Princess.” He delivered a quick little squeeze to her backside, causing her to give a surprised yelp. Her face got a little hot but she giggled and led her boyfriend through under the large banner with Umbrella's logo.

The exhibit was relatively empty for it being a weekend. She grinned, because it meant she could spend as long as she wanted to in it. She was excited to see that they had tons of viruses she knew a little bit about (polio, influenza, rabies, smallpox), as well as some that she had only heard about (hantavirus, ebola, SARS) and some that she could honestly say she had never heard of, including the centerpiece of the exhibit – an unnamed virus from a beautiful orange flower in a glass case from Africa. The plaque beneath it read: _This currently unnamed double-stranded RNA virus was found in the stairway of the sun flower [family: Asteraceae] that grows only in West Africa. Specimen on loan from Umbrella Pharmaceuticals.  
_Mounted on either side of the glass were large pictures of approximations of the virus. They were unlike anything she'd seen before. Rebecca practically pressed her nose up against the glass, admiring the beautiful red and yellow coloring of the petals. “Wow.” She murmured aloud.

“Wow is right.” She was startled by the sudden voice behind her. It was masculine, and unfamiliar. She turned around to look and saw a young, blonde man standing behind her. He looked like he wouldn't be out of place in a lab, with black ironed slacks and a white button down shirt.

“Sorry, am I crowding the exhibit?” She laughed, suddenly feeling a bit awkward. She took a few steps away, scratching the back of her head. Billy was sitting down on a nearby bench, watching a small black and white tv play video of viruses. “I just, thought it was super interesting. Never seen anything like that before.”

“Me either.” The boy admitted, his hands in his pockets. “I thought this was going to be the regular run of the mill stuff.”

She hesitated, wondering if she should introduce herself, but he took the chance to introduce himself first.

“I'm William. It's always nice to meet another person into virology.” He held out his hand to shake hers, which she did.

“Rebecca. Chambers.” She added after a second. “I love virology, horticulture, chemistry. And anything in the medical field is absolutely fascinating.”

“Is that why you look familiar?” He mused for a second. “Are you in the medical program at RCU?”

She blinked a few times. “No... I'm still in high school.”

“I am too. Sort of. I'm taking college classes and finishing up the last classes I need for my high school diploma. Maybe that's where I've seen you?”

“Maybe. I'm the Vice President of the Horticulture club. And I'm around on RCU campus sometimes too for college prep courses.”

“Well, you can usually find me in the labs there, if you ever want to talk about plants and viruses.” He turned lightly as someone called his name from the outside of the exhibit. “I've gotta get going, but it was nice to meet you, Rebecca.”

She turned back to Billy as his footsteps faded away, feeling a little excited that she'd met someone into the same obscure, weird things that she was. It might be nice to have some intellectual conversations – not that Billy or Steve and the other boys didn't make for good conversation or anything, it was just different.

“Someone you know?” Billy cocked an eyebrow.

“Uh... no, not really. He just asked me if I went to the University.” She smiled weakly. “We were talking about this flower.”

He chuckled, brushing the fringe of her bangs from her face. “You and your plants.”


	7. lie to me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Something that reminds me of Claire and Leon consistently, is Depeche Mode's Lie to Me. Ada/Claire/Leon is a fucked up love triangle, and it's great. 
> 
> This [long] chapter has smut! Finally! Maybe CW for some more mild boundary pushing.

Claire noticed a distinct lack of nerves as she began to get ready to go on her date with Leon. She was excited to see her boyfriend in a little bit more of an intimate setting in what felt like months, but it was an admittedly different feeling than when she was getting ready to go out with Steve.

She didn't feel giddy, didn't feel the need to wear much more makeup other than mascara, and didn't feel the need to dress up. She told herself it was because it was a much more casual setting, and that she didn't need to wear something sexy to impress her long-term boyfriend.

She clasped her favorite black choker around her neck and smoothed down the hem of the t-shirt that she cropped herself. She liked to alter her own clothes and make them unique, rather than wear whatever everyone else was wearing. She felt she consistently straddled the line between feminine and tough, and that's exactly where she wanted to be.

She pulled her motorcycle boots on and was just about to send Leon a text that she was ready when there was a knock on the door. She cocked her eyebrow, wondering if Leon was, miraculously, on time for once.

To her surprise, when she opened the door, Leon _was _on time and he even brought her a bouquet of flowers. She gave a short, surprised laugh.

“Hey.” He flashed a smile. “These are for you. Uh, the little white ones,” he tilted the bouquet to point them out with his free hand, “Are called orange mock, and they are not edible, I asked.”

“That does sounds like a question you'd ask.” She smiled and pointed to the taller, bright red flowers that sat taller than the small clusters of white flowers. “Those are tulips, right?”

“Yeah. I picked them because they're your favorite color.”

She took the bouquet from him and brought it to her nose, breathing deeply. The tulips gave off a lovely sweet scent that mixed with the slight orange scent from the other flowers. “Thank you. Just let me put them in water and we can go.”

After a quick search around her recently organized kitchen for where she saw the vase yesterday, the flowers were sitting comfortably in water and she was ready to go.

“I know that you'd prefer to ride your motorcycle, but I just thought it'd be easier to pick you up.” He smiled at her in the passenger seat of his car. Every time he smiled at her, she felt a little bit more excited to spend the day with him. She'd nearly forgotten how gorgeous he was when he smiled.

“I'm just happy we finally get to spend some time together.” She leaned her elbow on the center console and rested her chin on her fist. Her stomach growled. “...and I'm really excited for lunch.”

“Me too. Ada doesn't usually like to eat stuff that isn't 'healthy.'” He faltered and started his car. “I mean, when we're studying late.”

“Yeah, I know she's 'watching her figure.'” Claire rolled her eyes. Though it were true she had a very high metabolism, Chris didn't let her get away with getting out of training entirely. It wasn't uncommon for her to be dragged along with him and Jill on their gym outings.

“Yeah...” He kept his eyes on the road, but changed the subject as quickly as he could. “So, what movie are you thinking of?”

“You know, I haven't thought that far ahead.” She admitted.

“Hey man, how'd the thing with that girl go last night?” Joseph asked, immediately upon Steve joining the game lobby. “Was it a date or not?”

The only sound that came from Steve's mic was the unmistakable bubbling of a bong, followed by a cough. “Y'know, I dunno if it was a date or not. But it was just us. And she texted me the next morning and said she had a lot of fun.”

“Definitely a date.” Brad spoke. “Man, how lucky are you? You get a date from a hot girl after she literally runs into you.”

“You could have dates too if you asked girls out, but you're too chickenshit, Brad.” Joseph rolled his eyes.

“Yeah.... but then I'd have less time to raid.” It was a weak excuse, but none of the boys disagreed. Their weekly weekend raids were very important.

“You aren't going to get a girlfriend and stop playing games with us, are you, Steve?” Joseph said nearly accusingly through the microphone. There was an undertone of jealousy in his voice.

“I mean, I'm not going to complain if she wants to spend more time with me.” He grinned. “Would you?”

“Naw, ah know ah wouldn't,” Forest murmured. To be honest, he was the one who had the least trouble with women – while Brad preferred to just keep to himself and Joseph maybe tried a little bit too hard with the ladies, Forest had little to no trouble with his long brown hair and southern drawl.

“Forest has the right idea. Are we gonna play, or what?” Steve murmured, starting to get annoyed at the focus being put on his possible new love life.

“Can we get, like an order of fried pickles? For the table?” Claire gestured to the table as she said the last segment, knowing full well that she was going to eat most of them herself. “And.... a coke?”

“Of course.” The waitress scribbled on her pad of paper. “And what can I get you to drink, sir?”

“Iced tea. Thank you.” He flashed a smile at her before turning his attention back to the menu. It was nice not hearing Ada worry about what to order. It was something he always admired about Claire. She didn't care what anyone else thought about her. “So what are you wanting?”

“God, everything sounds so good.” She murmured, glancing up at him. “I haven't really thought about it outside of the pickles.”  
“I think I want the Raccoon City Sunrise. With the fried egg. …. without a bun.” He added after a second. If Ada was expecting him to take her out for dinner tonight, he needed to be smart about his choices.

She wrinkled her nose lightly. “I don't see how you can eat your eggs like that. The runny yolks freak me out.”

“I've seen you eat blue cheese.” He stared at her. “...but the yolks freak you out?”

“Well, blue cheese is delicious.” She shrugged. “I'm sorry that you can't appreciate that.”

Once the burgers were ordered and Claire had demolished most of the plate of fried pickles, (which honestly impressed Leon a bit, he forgot how much food she could put away) she found herself quite comfortable with Leon. Something, that honestly, she'd been a little bit worried about. She was concerned she would feel awkward, or weird with Leon, but it was like they'd spent no time at all apart.

“So, how's studying going?” She asked, absently wiping at the condensation on her glass with her thumb.

“It's been....good. We've covered a lot.” Leon smirked but quickly took a drink of his tea.

“You know, I'm really glad that you're putting so much time into it.” She smiled. She knew Leon had wanted to be on the force since he was young, and she was very proud of him for putting the time into the requirements. He really was going after his dream job, and it made her happy to see that.

“It'll all be worth it... I hope.” He cleared his throat. He suddenly felt a little bit guilty, so he excused himself to the restroom to clear his head. He took the time to splash a bit of cold water on his face. Guilt wasn't a feeling he was accustomed to, and he didn't like it one bit.

Upon returning to the table, he was relieved to see that lunch had arrived. He was thankful, because he wasn't feeling like discussing his 'study habits' any more this afternoon.

“Oh, good, I'm starving.”

“Me too,” Claire murmured, dipping a few fries in ketchup and practically shoving them whole in her mouth. She'd hardly waited for him to come back before she started eating. “Oh man, that's good.”

He laughed. He'd always liked that Claire was never one of the girls who picked a salad over a burger, or tried to downplay her appetite in order to impress a guy. In fact, it was one of the many things that he truly admired about her. Claire was her own person, and he appreciated that.

“So what movie are you thinking about?” Leon asked, tucking his wallet back in his pocket after lunch was finished and paid for.

Claire gave a soft groan. “I forgot we were supposed to go for a movie.... all I really want right now is a nap.” She half joked, but stifled a yawn nonetheless.

“....a nap does sound good.” Leon agreed, rubbing his chin lightly.

“Then I vote that we take a nap and see about a movie after.”

Leon considered for a moment. The idea of taking a nap with Claire was intriguing to say the least. Despite being officially boyfriend and girlfriend for quite a while, he'd never slept over in her bed, or vice versa. She'd relegated him to the couch the few times he crashed there.

“Like, at your place?”

“I mean. I did end up cleaning the whole house this week.” She shrugged, casually leaving out the reason why. “I don't think Chris would mind if we took a nap together.” She smiled. To be honest, Chris wasn't particularly worried about policing his younger sister's sex life. He kept condoms in the medicine cabinet, free for her to use, because he wanted her to be safe if she chose to have sex and left it at that. “So...yeah, I mean, if you wanna come back to my place and we can nap..” She felt her stomach flutter a bit, and she chalked it up to nervousness with his answer.  
“I think it sounds fun.” He couldn't suppress a grin.

Claire slowly opened her front door, listening hard for a second to confirm that Chris wasn't home. She knew that he wouldn't really care if he walked in to find them napping together, but still found herself being cautious. She led her boyfriend to her bedroom, and sat on the edge of her bed to pull her boots off. She tossed them haphazardly in the corner.

“I....is it okay if I take my jeans off?” She hesitated, waiting for his response. She knew there was no way she could get comfortable wearing her jeans, but she also didn't want to push any boundaries (hers included.)

“Of course.” Leon hardly looked up as he removed his own shows, followed by his socks. “Do you mind if I take mine off?”

“That's fine.” She felt a bit of excitement start to rise in her stomach again. She wasn't sure what she was feeling, but it wasn't a bad feeling. She watched out of the corner of her eye as Leon unzipped his pants and pulled them down his legs. Next came his shirt, leaving him in nothing but a pair of dark blue plaid boxers.

She stretched out on her bed and gave a soft sigh. Leon wrapped his arms around her waist and nuzzled against her neck and she breathed in sharply. She nuzzled against his chest, giving a small, timid kiss.

“This is okay?” Leon murmured into the top of her head.

“Y-yeah.”

He squeezed lightly, pressing his chest further against hers. Even with her t-shirt between them, he could feel the softness of her breasts against him. “Good.”

She felt her heart flutter and she closed her eyes. She didn't feel so sleepy anymore. She focused on her breath, slow and deep, and not the heat sparking between her thighs. She could smell Leon's cologne, sweet and organic, like cedar wood. She was acutely aware of his hand splayed just above her backside.

“This is nice.” Leon murmured after a moment.

“Yeah.” She agreed quietly, her eyes still closed. Leon's fingers stroked the soft skin just above the waistband of her underwear. She sucked in a sharp breath.

“Sorry, do you want me to stop?”

“N-no.” She wet her lips. “....it feels good.” She felt Leon's lips curl into a smirk.

“I could make you feel better....If you want.” He rolled his hips lightly against her.

“I don't want to have sex.” She looked up at him as if to punctuate her statement.

“I know.” He nuzzled against her neck, placing a couple of gentle kisses there. “We don't have to. I can still make you feel good.”

“I, ah, dunno,” She felt a shiver run up her spine. Her head was getting fuzzy and it was hard to think. Her heart throbbed in her chest, and she hoped Leon couldn't feel it.

His hand slipped between her legs and rested there. He could feel the heat radiating off of her. “I wanna make you feel good. Just say stop, and I'll stop. I promise.”

She wavered, but Leon's palm pressed up against her most private parts was making it very hard to say no. There was a huge part of her that wanted Leon, while the small voice in the back of her head still made her unsure.

“O-okay.... Please.” She whispered after a moment.

“Just trust me, yeah?” Leon smirked softly, easily pushing her underwear aside and slipping a single finger into her wet slit. He was almost surprised at how slick she was. “Oh wow,” He murmured, lips pressed against her ear. “God, you're so wet.”

She whimpered softly in response, a dark blush spreading across her face. She almost felt dizzy with the smell of his cologne in her nostrils, clumsily parting her legs so Leon could slip a second finger inside. He curled them inside of her, searching for just the right spot. She gasped and buried her face against him, attempting to quell any other noises she might make.

He found a rhythm and worked against that spot, his thumb stroking small, fervent circles over her swollen clit. Her body tensed in time with his movements, like a string being wound tighter and tighter. She screwed her eyes shut, enjoying the waves of pleasure rolling over her, unsure of what the tightness in her lower stomach meant. She just enjoyed the sensations and the warmth of Leon pressed against her, until suddenly she was seeing fireworks.

She gasped, her muscles tightening against Leon's two digits buried inside her. She cried out as she came, and sucked in deep breaths of air after she realized she had been holding her breath. She lay still for a moment, eyes closed, breathing hard, covered in a thin layer of sweat.  
“Y'so pretty when you cum,” He hummed against her skin. She was acutely aware of Leon drawing his fingers away, leaving her feeling empty and wanting more. He licked his fingers clean with a groan. “and you taste like candy, Claire.” He kissed her, hard, and she wrapped a hand around the back of his neck, kissing back.

She could taste herself on his lips and that only fueled the fire inside of her. She wanted more. She needed to find out what he tasted like, what he felt like.

Her hands found the front of his boxers and cupped his erection, stroking experimentally. It felt nice in her hands – heavy, firm, hot. She squeezed and stroked through the thin cotton of his underwear.

He groaned softly, offering words of encouragement as his cock twitched in her hands. There was something hot about her innocence, especially compared to Ada's expert handling of his package. Her hands eventually slipped inside his waistband and he shuddered, rolling his hips against her. Her hands were soft, and a bit clumsy, as she stroked him.

“You're big,” She murmured softly, though honestly she didn't even know what that really meant. She'd never really touched a boy before, so she didn't exactly have a frame of reference.... but Leon was still thicker and firmer than she could've imagined.

The unmistakable sound of the front door opening and closing jolted her back to reality and she found herself feeling awkward about continuing if her brother was home. She doubted Chris would mind, but it just felt _weird _continuing their exploration of each other with him home.

She drew her hands away and felt her face get hot. Leon wrinkled his nose at her as though to say 'really?'

She smiled weakly in response. “Sorry. I …. just. Not with Chris home.”

He sighed, looking a bit annoyed, but he didn't argue. he leaned forward, brushing his lips against her earlobe again. “I was enjoying your hands wrapped around me. You're a natural.”

“R-really?” She found herself whispering. He smirked and kissed her forehead.

The light filtering through the blinds had begun to turn a lovely golden color, signaling to Leon the setting of the sun. He knew Ada was going to end up being annoyed if he didn't get back to her soon, so maybe Chris coming home wasn't bad timing. If he were being honest with himself, Claire's timid touches were nice but they weren't going to get him where he needed to go.

“We can make it up another time. I really don't want your brother to kick my ass,” He smirked but Claire nodded in agreement.

After another quick, heated exchange of saliva (and a little bit of friction against their lower halves), Leon was up and dressed. She walked him to the door and thanked him for lunch (among other things) and hugged him goodbye.

She closed and locked the door behind him, and couldn't help a smile. Her entire body felt relaxed and every worry about Leon had faded from her mind.


	8. dangerous plans

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> help me I'm so bad at titles

Ada answered her apartment door wearing nothing but a sheer, red negligee and a smile. Leon swore his heart skipped a beat, and h e found himself hard again. He'd just managed to get himself to calm down after 'napping' with Claire.

“H-hey.”

She smiled softly, arching her back against the door frame. “What took you so long, handsome?”

“I....the neighbors will see.” Was the only thing Leon managed to blurt out as he stared at her.

“Then come inside.” She reached out and grasped his hand, pulling him past the threshold of her apartment and closing the door behind him. “Shoes,” She pointed at his feet and disappeared into the kitchen for a moment.

Leon fumbled to take his boots off for the second time today, dropping them hastily on the shelf. He pursued Ada into the kitchen, wrapping his arms around her waist as she poured both of them a glass of wine. He nuzzled against her neck, placing kisses at the soft skin there.

She giggled, setting the wine bottle down on her marble counter top with a soft clink. “Excuse you, do you want me to make a mess?”

He grinned. “I mean, not that kind of mess. I'd rather make you so wet you have to change your sheets.” He murmured against her ear, punctuating it with a sharp nip to her earlobe.

“We have dinner plans.” She reminded him, glancing over her shoulder.

“Oh, is that why you're wearing something sexy? Pouring us wine? Because I have a feeling you'd rather stay in and let me have you for dinner.”

She couldn't help a smirk. The more she'd thought about the idea, she'd decided on staying in for the night. She was worried she would lose Leon to Claire and she wanted to rectify that. Ada knew that her and Leon belonged together, not Claire. They weren't even in the same league, in Ada's opinion.

“I mean, if you insist.... we can work up an appetite and order in.”

Leon smiled, taking the glass of wine she had poured for him and taking a large gulp. “I think that can be arranged. I'm going to make sure you can barely stand after we're done.”

“Is that a threat or a promise?” She purred as she pressed her body against his.

“A promise.” He grabbed a handful of her backside and squeezed hard.

Jill lay in Chris's bed, absently tossing a baseball into the air and catching it. She stared at the ceiling, tapping her foot in the air to the beat of the music Chris had playing in the background.

“What do you want to do tonight?” He looked away from shining his combat boots for a second to glance at his girlfriend.

She gave a sigh. She'd pushed herself extra hard this weekend, so her muscles ached. The idea of doing much didn't sound like something fun. “I dunno. I'm kinda sore.”

He chuckled softly. “You? Sore? I thought you could totally leg press more than me.”

A soft blush crept across Jill's cheeks. She lightly threw the baseball at Chris's back. “Yeah well, me too.” She rubbed her thighs lightly. “I think what I need is a long soak in a hot tub and a beer.”

“A beer? That isn't too many calories?” He teased lightly, bracing lightly as the baseball bounce off of his back and roll onto the floor. He tried to think of any of his friends had a hot tub at their place.

“Please.” She rolled her eyes. “I deserve them after this weekend.”

“Well.... we'd have to keep it from Claire, because she would have a fit if she found out we went, but.... you know the Ashford twins are having their birthday party tonight. You know they have that hot tub.” He said after a minute. The only other option would be looking into spas, and that could get pricey. It's not that he didn't want to treat his girlfriend, but more that he just didn't have the extra cash for it.

She wrinkled her nose lightly. They were seniors at Claire's school, and disgustingly popular despite treating most people like dirt. But, being the richest family in Raccoon City meant a lot of people sucked up. “I dunno. They give me the creeps. They're like.... way too close.”  
Chris laughed. That was true. The twins had some pretty unsettling habits. “Yeah, I know.... but you know that they're going to be off somewhere being showered with birthday attention. Plus, that place is practically a mansion.... I'm pretty sure we can bring booze and no one would question it.”

She twirled a strand of hair around the tip of her pointer finger, thinking about it for a minute. It might be nice to socialize and soak in a top of the line hot tub (if their shared social accounts were anything to go off of, anyway), and she really did deserve a few drinks after how hard she'd been training and dieting...

“...yeah. Alright, you convinced me.” She smiled, leaning forward and giving her calf muscles a light rub.

Claire found herself restless after Leon had left. She just didn't quite know what to do with herself. She found herself wondering if she could meet back up with Leon. Maybe they could go to that movie, or even spend some time together at his house.... without her brother present, maybe they could finish what they started. She started to get worked up again just thinking about it.

She decided to text him. _Hey, I can't stop thinking about you. Can we do that movie?_ She bit her lower lip lightly and sent it. She felt nervous waiting for his response, but she couldn't figure out why.

It took a few minutes before her ringtone went off, signaling she had a text. She smiled, flipping her phone open and hoping Leon had said yes. She blinked a few times when the message was from Steve and not Leon. She felt her heart stop for a second, checking the last message she sent to make sure she sent it to her boyfriend. The last thing she needed to do was get Steve's hopes up.

_Hey havent heard from u 4 a min, hope ur ok_

She couldn't help a soft smile. She tried to dismiss the familiar feeling rising back up in her gut. She hesitated for a minute, unsure if she should respond when a second message from him came through.

_What r u up 2 tonight? We r crashing a party. Want 2 come?_

_ Give me a minute._ She responded finally, deciding to give Leon a ring for a quicker answer. A party with Steve and his friends could be fun, provided she didn't try to smoke too much herb this time. She picked at the skin around her fingernail as she listened to the phone ring. It eventually went to voice mail and she frowned, looking at the time. He'd left a few hours ago, so it wasn't like he was driving.

“Hey.... uh, just calling to check in on you, and see if you wanted to see that movie after all. But it sounds like you're busy.” She paused, unsure of what else to say. “I guess I'm gonna crash this party with some friends, though. I'll talk to you later. ...thanks again for today.” She hung up and opened her messages again to respond to Steve.

_Yeah, I'll come._ Almost immediately after sending the message, she felt the excitement start to bubble back up in her stomach. She tried to ignore it, tell herself that she was just excited to get out of the house again.

_gr8! Pick u up @ 9._

“Holy shit, I can't believe she said yes.” Joseph stared at Steve's phone screen, completely surprised. He wasn't sure if he should be jealous or happy for him. To be honest, he felt a little bit of both.

Steve grinned proudly. “Yeah. I think she digs me, man.”

“Ah think so too,” Forest nodded slowly in agreement. He patted Steve on the back with a heavy hand. “Good fer you.”

Steve grinned even wider now. “Thanks.”

Brad eyed them from the armchair across the room. He wasn't a fan of crowds, or parties. “D'you think it will be a big crowd?”

“Well, they do have the biggest house in town..... and last year, I heard someone drove a car into the pool.” Joseph grinned. “So yeah, I think it's going to be pretty wild.”

“I might sit this one out. Especially if Steve's bringing his new girlfriend. Plus I have homework that's due Monday, and I don't really want to try to rush it before class.” He shrugged lightly.

“Aw come on, she's not my girlfriend, Brad...well, yet, anyways.” Steve smirked

“See, this is why you're a virgin.” Joseph teased. “You seriously want to bail on the biggest party of the year? What's wrong with you man?”

“You're a virgin too.” Brad shot back, his voice laced with a bit of venom. He hated that Joseph was constantly picking on him for his disinterest in meeting people. He just felt more comfortable at home. Unlike some other boys his age, he wasn't interested in losing his virginity as fast as he could – he wanted his first time to be special. “I'll DD. I'll drop you off and pick you up so you guys can drink, or whatever.” He waved his hand to dismiss any complaints. “But I don't want to go to the party.”

“Fiiine,” Joseph rolled his eyes. “Guess that just means more hot chicks for me and Forest then.”

Ada nuzzled up against Leon's bare chest. An appetite had been sufficiently worked up, and dinner had been ordered and enjoyed. Now they were just enjoying each other's company.

A soft ding from her phone and she stretched over her lover to pick up her phone. She raised an eyebrow, not sure who would be contacting her.

“Oh, shit,” She said aloud, looking to Leon. “...that party is tonight.”

“Wha' party?” He yawned lightly, nuzzling into the memory foam pillow tucked underneath him. “I thought we were stayin' in.”

“We have to go, Leon. I don't want to deal with the twins if I don't show up.”

He sighed. “Fine. I need coffee, then. You wore me out.” He leaned over and delivered a single, sharp smack to Ada's backside as she climbed out of bed. She yelped.

“You're going to pay for that later, Leon.” She smirked, rubbing the pink tinged spot. “I'm going to take a shower. ...you can join me if you want.”

Leon grinned, perking up a bit and fumbling out of bed to follow her into her lavish bathroom. The shower comfortably fit both of them, and he wasn't about to miss out on helping Ada wash all of her curves.


	9. Party of the Year

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i should probably introduce the actual Ashfords at some point. I will.
> 
> I got some really great constructive criticism asking for more context, so I *tried* to do that here, so I really hope that it works. Let me know what you guys think please. Constructive criticism is *always* welcome.
> 
> I've had this chapter basically done for a week, so thanks for sticking it out! love y'all

Claire stared up at the huge house as they approached. It almost looked like something out of a movie: cars lined the block on either side of the street, groups of people (some she recognized, some she didn't) standing on the well manicured lawn holding red solo cups, music blaring so loud she could hear it from the end of the driveway. She'd never seen a party like this.

She suddenly felt a bit anxious, realizing she'd never asked exactly who's party they were crashing. She had a sinking feeling she wouldn't like the answer.

“....yeah, I definitely made the right choice.” Brad murmured as he parked to let his friends out, suddenly feeling validated in his choice. “...I'll be back at 1:30. Call me if you want me to come pick you up earlier. Alright?”

“Yeah, alright.” Steve climbed out of the backseat of Brad's parent's car, making sure to hold the door open for Claire as she followed next.

“Yeah, yeah. See you later.” Joseph practically slammed the door behind him as he climbed to his feet. He immediately began surveying the area, looking for ladies that might need some attention...

“....so, I kinda didn't know that this was the party that we were coming to...” Claire looked around carefully as she spoke, keeping an eye out for the twins, as though they could sneak up on her at any moment. “The Ashford twins and I do not get along. At all. Like, I'm pretty sure Alexia wants to beat me up.”

Steve frowned, feeling a wave of guilt wash over him. He hadn't even considered that possibility – who would bully Claire? She was such a kind girl. “...sorry. I didn't know that.” He paused for a second. “The only reason we're crashing is to drink their booze. I didn't even bring a gift or anything. All I brought I some herb.” He shrugged, shoving his hands in his pockets.

She looked around again, surveying her surroundings. No signs of the twins. There were probably thirty kids just on the lawn, and it was still early. If this really was the biggest party of the year, she might not even have to worry about running into Alexia. Drinking her (most likely top shelf) alcohol sure sounded like a small (not to mention fun) way to stick it to the twins.

“...I mean, I guess if we're already here...” She trailed off with a slight shrug. “Just let me know if you see them, I guess. I'd really prefer to not get into a fist fight tonight.”

Steve grinned. “Cool. Lets go find the booze.”

She gave one last glance around the yard before nodding and following Steve up the small set of stone stairs to the wide set of double doors at the entrance of the mansion. She brushed her fingers lightly across the rough surface of the stone carved pillars on either side of the entrance as they passed through the huge, glass front doors and into the foyer of the mansion. There was some sort of music playing in a few rooms away.

“Wow.” Claire murmured, looking around. The twin's dwelling was even more impressive than she'd imagined. A huge staircase sat front and center in the front room of the mansion, splitting off two different directions once it reached the top. The house was decorated with gold and silver decorations, almost too sophisticated for an 18th birthday celebration. But honestly, Claire hadn't expected anything less – they were always over the top and liked to conflate themselves with the idea they were royalty. Really, she wouldn't be surprised if they were running round in crowns tonight or something as equally as dramatic.

Steve cleared his throat, leaning towards a thin blonde girl with a short green skirt to ask which way the kitchen was. Claire couldn't hear her over the echoing voices of the other people in the front hall, but saw her point. Steve thanked her and led the way to the kitchen.

She hung back for a moment to let Steve scout the area for the twins. Once she received the all clear, she stepped through the tall doorway into the kitchen. On the marble counter tops sat entire trays of sushi, fancy charcuterie plates, various kinds of shrimp, even a dish of caviar next to a tray of small pieces of crusty bread, as well as more standard party fare like fried mozzarella sticks and jalapeno poppers.

Claire felt her stomach rumble at the sight of all of the food options. She immediately grabbed a small plate – porcelain, she realized and couldn't help but roll her eyes – and started piling food on it. She got a little bit of everything savory except the caviar and grinned at Steve.

“Alright, this was a good idea.”

Steve smiled back at her, taking a piece of sushi with his fingers and popping it directly into his mouth. “Mmhmmm.”

After her plate was piled with snacks, she moved to the full bar set up in the kitchen. She balanced her plate with one hand, while taking a red plastic cup with her other. She set it down on the counter and struggled to try to open bottle of vodka with her free hand. She heard vodka didn't give you a hangover, so despite never having had more than a few beers in the past, decided that was her best option.

“Here, let me.” He took the plastic cap off of the frosted glass bottle, pouring a sizable amount into the cup.

“Thanks.” Claire smiled, taking the cup and lifting it to her mouth. She sipped on it and immediately regretted it as the straight alcohol burned down her throat and into her stomach. She scrunched her nose and shook her head as the fumes burned her nose. “Ugh, jesus.”

Steve laughed. “Yeah, uh, you need a mixer for that.”

“Please.” She thrust the cup at Steve, who picked up a bottle of orange juice off the counter and added it to her cup, splashing a bit of pineapple juice and mixing it all up for her before handing it back. She sipped it again. “....that's so much better. How'd you learn how to mix drinks?”

He shrugged lightly. “TV, I guess. I couldn't make any real mixed drinks. But as long as it tastes good, that's all that matters, right?”  
“Mmmhm.” Claire nodded, taking a big swallow. The burn of the alcohol was still there, mostly as it hit her empty stomach, but it was largely masked by the sweetness of the orange juice with the slight tang of the pineapple.

Steve grinned, pouring a couple of shots worth of rum into a cup for himself and adding cola. He tasted it and added another splash of soda before deciding he was satisfied.

“Can we find somewhere quiet?” She asked after a moment. Even though the kitchen was huge with lots of counter space, it was still packed with people getting food and drink. She could hardly hear Steve over the many voices.

“Yeah.” Steve palmed a couple of jalapeno poppers and maneuvered his way out of the kitchen, Claire following closely behind. She admired the architecture of the house, finding herself becoming a bit jealous of the twin's abode.

They did a bit of careful exploring in the huge house, until they eventually found a back room that was uninhabited. Military artifacts lined the walls, and two well worn couches sat facing each other in the center of the room. Claire didn't make it her business to learn too much about Alfred and Alexia, but she did know that their Dad was some sort of high ranking government official. They seemed like a relatively eccentric family, so the fact that they had an entire room dedicated to weird artifacts didn't seem out of place.

Claire took a seat in the middle of one of the two couches, cross legged and leaned forward to place her drink and plate on the low wooden table in front of her. Steve hesitated for a moment before sitting on the other couch across from her.

“This is a nice house.” Claire murmured, taking a big gulp of her sweet drink. “Of course it is, they're the richest family in Raccoon.” She rolled her eyes. She didn't want to admit she was jealous and irritated.

Steve chuckled, leaning forward and swiping a piece of fried shrimp off of her plate. “What, are you jealous or something?”

She laughed weakly. “No.....maybe a little. It's just...really beautiful. And they kinda suck.” She looked annoyed as she swirled her drink around in her cup.

“Well, what we're here for is to drink their booze and eat their food, so I'd say we're doing pretty okay in that department.” Steve fumbled with something in his pocket, eventually pulling out a familiar rolled joint. He offered it to Claire.

She hesitated, but then took it from him. She put it between her lips and leaned forward to let him light it. He cupped his hand around the lighter flame and lit the tip, watching the smoke began to furl towards the ceiling.

She took a couple of puffs off of it, before handing it back to Steve. She coughed, the smoke burning her lungs. She finished her drink, grimacing as the last bit of the vodka had been hiding under a pool of juice. “Ugh, jesus.”

Steve leaned back, tilting his head to the ceiling and blowing smoke rings. Claire giggled softly, pulling her legs closer to her body to get comfortable. She wrapped her arms around her legs and rested her chin on her knees.

“Just how much of this stuff do you smoke?” She asked, watching the hand rolled cigarette already growing smaller in length.

“Uh....” Steve scratched the back of his neck. “I don't really think about it. Kind of a lot, I guess. I started after I was diagnosed with depression and anxiety. I couldn't even go to school. At the lowest, I couldn't even leave my house. It was like I was in prison.” He took another couple of draws before handing it back to Claire.

She nodded, silent for a moment, unsure of what to say. She'd had a stint after her parents had passed that she was diagnosed with depression and put immediately on anti-depressants by her doctor. She remembered how they'd made her feel – isolated, numb. Not any better than the depression, really. She still struggled to do most things, and she slept a lot.

“Sorry, is that too real?” Steve laughed, leaning forward and taking a rapidly cooling mozzarella stick off of her plate. He shoved it in his mouth.

“No. I just. Never treated my depression with herbs.” She murmured. It _did_ seem like the better option. She wondered if she'd really ever come out of her prior bout. She'd spent most of her time alone before she met Steve, being dismissed by Leon, not having the energy to join Chris and Jill on their training most of the time. “After my parents died, I wasn't okay for a while.” She tucked a few strands of loose hair behind her ear absently.

Steve was silent this time, finishing his own drink. “I'm sorry.” He was silent for another minute. “....I didn't know about your parents.”

“Yeah. Yeah, it's just me and Chris in that house. His girlfriend stays over a lot, though.” She fell silent.

He leaned forward and squeezed her wrist. His Dad wasn't exactly in the picture, but it seemed so different than actually even losing one, or god forbid, both of his parents. “I'm sorry, Claire.”

She laughed weakly, taking another few (small) puffs of herb before handing it back to Steve. She realized it tasted faintly of strawberries. A warm buzz started filling her head.. “Is this stuff different than what you had at the concert?” She asked, desperate to change the subject. She didn't like talking about her late parents. She hated feeling like her life was something to be sympathetic about.

“Uh, yeah. I'm surprised you could tell.”

“I like it more.” She mused. Though, to be honest, she wasn't sure if it was the alcohol or the herb making her feel this way. She felt warm, relaxed and quite comfortable. “...my mouth is really dry, though.” She pressed the pad of her pointer finger to her tongue, feeling how dry her tongue felt.

Steve laughed. “Well, I guess we should get another drink, then.”

The trek back to the kitchen made Claire a bit nervous, so she made sure to make her second drink as strong as her first. She added the same mixture of juice Steve had earlier and tasted it apprehensively. The burn was minimal and she nodded, proud of herself.

Steve spent the time it took for Claire to make a drink looking for sweets. He stacked a couple of cookies on a napkin, a bit disappointed that there didn't seem to be any cake in the kitchen.

“...what kinda birthday party doesn't have cake?” He murmured, turning to Claire.

“I'm sure there's cake somewhere. It's probably just something _really _over the top. Like a cake version of themselves or something.” She rolled her eyes. She knew she was being a little dramatic, but there didn't seem to be anything that was too 'over the top' or off limits for the Ashfords.  
  


Jill gave a loud, contented sigh as she slipped down into the hot tub with Chris. The heat immediately began to relax her muscles. She leaned her head back and took a sip of the sparkling wine balanced precariously on the edge of the hot tub. “I'm glad you talked me into this.”

“Me too.” Chris smiled, looking around the massive backyard. It took them almost an hour to actually make it to the backyard after stopping to make small talk with all of their friends.

“Seems even more chill than we were thinking.” Jill closed her eyes, letting the temperature and the jets start to work the tension out of her body. To tell the truth, her second glass of wine was helping too. She hardly got to indulge like this, so the whole situation just felt perfectly decadent. She didn't even feel guilty for not telling Claire.

“Yeah. I think that's because most of the party is taking place inside.” He murmured, taking a long swig of the locally brewed beer he'd plucked from the fridge. He pressed the cold glass to his temple, savoring the sensation. “People are missing out, though. This is the spot.”

“How many people do you think it takes to maintain a house like this?” Jill asked, admiring the greenery and carefully trimmed hedges lining the yard.

“Oh, a lot. You see what my house looks like all the time.” He chuckled. “It's nice though. Almost feels like we're on vacation.”

“Yeah.” Jill agreed, slipping further into the water until it lapped at her collar bones. She stretched her legs out, letting them press into Chris's stomach lightly before resting in his lap.

“Woah, now. Are you trying to get me all worked up?” He grinned, but there was a familiar glint in his eye that piqued Jill's attention. She pressed her feet against his lap with a sly smirk.

“Maybe.”

“Careful with that, Jill. You might regret it.” H grinned, grabbing one of her bare ankles and tickling her with his free hand.

She yelped, trying to draw her foot away from him and laughing. She kicked lightly at him until he released her. She breathed deep for a moment and shot him a half-serious glare.

“....I hope I'm not interrupting anything if I join?”

Jill jerked her head up, feeling a bit embarrassed that someone saw them. She didn't recognize the boy standing there. He had short, chestnut colored hair that was perfectly coiffed into a pompadour, well groomed eyebrows and a _very _well toned upper body. “S-sorry. No, of course not.”

“Oh, Hey... You're in JROTC at the High School, right?” Chris asked, turning his upper body to look at the other boy.

“That's correct. Sir.” Piers flashed a small smile, which quickly faded. “Piers Nivans, sir. JROTC.”

“At ease, soldier.” Chris chuckled lightly, moving to sit closer to Jill to allow the younger boy space in the hot tub. “It's a party, relax.”

Piers slid into the hot tub, making sure to leave enough space between the other two people and himself. “I'm honestly surprised you remember me. I've only met you a couple of times.”  
Chris shrugged lightly. “You also were the best shot with a rifle.”

Piers smiled softly again. He worked hard to be top of his class and the best soldier he could be. “No other way to get into West Point, Sir.”

“Those are good goals, Nivans.” He gestured to Jill. “This is my girlfriend, Jill. She's AFROTC too.”

“It's nice to meet you, ma'am.”

Steve stood from his seat with a big stretch and a quiet groan as feeling returned back to his legs. He didn't know how long they'd been at the party, what time it was, or how long they'd been talking, but he did know he needed to take a bathroom break.

“I gotta piss.” He murmured, but immediately regretted his word choice and tried to backpedal. “Uh, gross, I mean, if you'll excuse me, I need to use the bathroom.” He grinned sheepishly, feeling a blush creep across his face.

Claire giggled softly. “Alright. I'll hang here.” She watched him leave before pulling out her cellphone to make sure she didn't have any messages or missed calls. She frowned a bit when she realized Leon had never gotten back to her, but tried to push the thought from her mind.

The numbers on her small lcd screen read just past midnight. Part of her was thankful that Brad would be by to pick them up soon, but at the same time, she was thoroughly enjoying Steve's company. It really was easy to talk to him. She only looked up from her phone when she heard the door creek back open.

“That was quick. No line?” She asked, looking over her shoulder to look at Steve. Her face fell immediately when she realized it wasn't the red head. “L-Leon?”

Her boyfriend stood in the elaborately decorated door frame of the office, eyes wide like a deer caught in headlights. Ada was right behind him, fingers interlaced with his and wearing a short, tight red dress that left nothing to the imagination. Her lips were a deep burgundy color – and so were Leon's. His collar had lipstick on it too, and she could smell Ada's perfume on him from here.

“What are you doing here, Claire?” Were the only words he could manage to muster, staring at her. He felt sweat beading on his forehead and he felt like he'd been punched in the gut – hard.

“What the fuck, Leon?” She said in a voice barely above a whisper. Her heart ached and she could barely draw breath. “W-what are _you_ doing here? W-with her?”

“I-it's not what it looks like.” He stammered, looking to Ada and his mind racing to come up with an excuse that would get him out of this, but coming up empty.

Claire stood, feeling tears streaming down her face but not entirely aware that she was crying. She pushed past Leon and Ada, practically breaking into a run down the hallway as she headed for the entrance. She was hot, embarrassed, angry. She was shaking, felt liable to throw up.

“Wait, Claire!” He called out after her, watching her disappear around one of the corners. “...fuck.”

She wiped her tears on the back of her hand, a sob wrenching from her gut. She slowed to a walk once she hit the sidewalk, practically collapsing to sit on the curb. She wrapped her arms around her legs, burying her face into her knees.

She didn't know how long she was sitting alone before her phone started to ring and vibrate. She half expected it to be Leon until she read the name flashing on her screen. It was Steve.

She sniffled, bringing the phone up to her ear. “Hello?”

“Where'd you go? Did I say something wrong?” Steve's voice sounded somewhat panicked, and a little sad on the other end.

“N-no. Outside.” She whimpered into the phone. “L-Leon's cheating.” Was all she managed to choke out before she dissolved into sobs again.

“I'm coming. Stay right there.”


	10. Aftermath

Steve wrapped his arms around Claire and pulled her close. She buried her face in his chest. It hurt. She felt like she could vomit and her head was spinning.

He flattened a hand on her back gently, at first patting softly and then carefully rubbing in hopes of calming her down. He rest his chin on the top of her head, saying nothing as he held her. He hoped that she couldn't feel how quickly his heart was beating. He'd never really been this close to a girl, much less a girl like Claire.

He only moved when his phone rang. He carefully fished it out of his pocket and answered it quietly. “Hello?”

“Hey, man, it's me. I'm on my way, will you round everyone up? I really don't wanna wait around.”

“Can you actually? I'm... kinda busy.” He glanced down at Claire. “I can't really get up and wander around right now.”

There was a loud sigh on the other end of the phone. “Fine.” He hung up.

Steve couldn't help but roll his eyes. Sometimes Brad was a little bit over dramatic.

“We'll get you home, and in bed. ...maybe some water, too.” Steve found himself wrapping the tips of her fiery red ponytail around his fingers and admiring the contrast on his skin.

She sniffled and nodded her head weakly, twisting her fingers into Steve's navy blue cotton t-shirt. “B-bed sounds good.”

Steve nodded in agreement, silent for a moment. “I'm sorry your boyfriend turned out to be an asshole.”

“Me t-to-too.” She whimpered softly, screwing her eyes shut as another round of tears began rolling down her face. Her heart hurt, her stomach was in knots, and she was embarrassed she was the drunk girl crying at her first real party. She just wanted to go home and go to sleep.

“Ah, jeez. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to get you worked up again.” He apologized, feeling a pang of guilt. “It's okay, Claire. You deserve so much more than that... he's such a shitbag.”  
“Me too.” She whimpered, drawing in a slow, shaky breath. Her lungs ached and her head was beginning to pound. “...I ha-hate crying.” She peered up at him, eyes blood shot and tears glistening on her cheeks even in the dim lighting of the streetlights. He gently wiped away her tears with his thumb, giving a soft smile.

“As much as I hate to say this, we should get up... head to where Brad dropped us off.”

She hesitated a moment but nodded. She felt so comfortable and safe in Steve's arms, and she _really _needed that comfort right now. It was the only part of the night that didn't suck. As carefully as she could after plenty of herb and two very strong drinks on a nearly empty stomach, she rose to her feet. She stumbled a bit but regained her balance.

“....yeah, we gotta get you some water.” He carefully took her wrist and helped steady her on the short walk back up to the driveway.

The party was beginning to dissipate. Steve noticed a handful of the parking spots that had been full when they arrived were empty. There were empty cups left on the stone steps and various furniture on the porch, and most of the kids on the lawn had either migrated inside or left.

He stood next to Claire, silent as he looked for Forest and Joseph. He hadn't seen them since they arrived, but he was sure part of the reason of that was their little secluded spot. He finally spotted Joseph's familiar red bandanna as he came through the wrought iron gate that surrounded the backyard. He expected Forest to be in tow and raised an eyebrow when he didn't see the tall southern boy.

“Hey....” Joseph murmured, coming to a stop beside Steve. His hands were shoved in his pockets and he looked dejected. “Brad here yet? I wanna leave, man. This party sucks.”

Steve couldn't help but give a laugh. “What, did you get rejected again?”

“Man, these chicks are too stuck up.” He kicked at a small pebble in the dirt. “They just want to date all of these asshole jocks and don't know how good I'd treat them.”

Steve patted Joseph on the back lightly. “It's alright, man. ...where's Forest?”

Joseph threw his arms in the air, exasperated. “Probably getting laid right now. He said not to wait up for him.” He crossed his arms, staring into the street as if he could manifest their ride out of sheer annoyance. “It's so unfair. I just wanna go play video games. You in?”

Steve shook his head. “Gotta make sure this one makes it into bed okay.” He gestured to Claire.

Joseph shook his head and muttered something under his breath. Steve rolled his eyes and decided it wasn't worth the argument. He knew how Joseph was when he got worked up like this – he was a good guy, but he had a temper.

Steve breathed a sigh of relief as he saw the headlights of Brad's car flash around the corner. He felt a bit drained by everything that had happened, so he was ready for bed too.

He let Claire into the car first before sliding into the seat next to her. Joseph took the passenger seat with a audible 'hmph' and folded his arms over his chest. He sat in near silence for the entire ride home, only giving single syllable answers to Brad's questions about the party.

Claire fumbled with her keys, missing the keyhole on the first try and requiring Steve's help to guide it in. She slowly, carefully opened the door. Even though Chris's vehicle wasn't in the driveway, she was still wary not to wake him. She didn't want to get an earful of going to a party and coming home in the wee hours of the morning on a school night.

She slowly pushed the front door open and peeked in. All of the lights were off. She frowned lightly, wondering where her brother was, but deciding that it wasn't important. Most likely, he was sleeping over at Jill's house, which wasn't entirely uncommon.

She took a few steps inside and stumbled, causing Steve to grab her elbow and waist to steady her. Almost as quickly, he released her, feeling his face get hot. “Sorry.”

“S'okay.” She murmured, feeling for the light switch on the wall. She found it and flicked it on with no warning, causing Steve to curse and cover his eyes as the florescent bulb burned his pupils.

“Sorry.” She apologized now, pressing her hand flat against the wall to take her boots off. They fell to the carpet with a soft thud. She slowly, deliberately made her way towards her room. The full amount of alcohol was hitting her now, and she found it hard to do almost everything. It was like her limbs weighed twice what they should and she were moving at half speed.

Steve rubbed his eyes for a moment after the acclimated to the now lit hallway. He was very glad that he'd made his second drink much weaker and stuck to the herb. He didn't know if he could live with himself if he'd been too wasted to take care of Claire. She really seemed like she could use a hand tonight.

“I'm going to get you some water, okay?” He called after her, watching her turn the corner and enter into what had to be her room. He opened a couple of cabinets before he found where the glasses and cups were stored. He filled a large plastic cup with the US Air Force logo on it to the top with cold water and set to meet her in her room.

He noticed there were pictures of Claire when she was younger, along with who he assumed was her older brother, and family portraits with their deceased parents lining the hall on the way to her room. He was surprised at how much she looked like her mother – long, dark red hair, a smattering of freckles across her cheeks and bridge of her nose and the shape of her lips, but she had her father's piercing blue eyes.

He knocked once on the door frame and gave Claire a second to respond before pushing the door open. “Claire?”

“Hm?” She made a soft sound, not even turning to look at him. She lay flat on her stomach on top of her already disheveled sheets, her hands tucked beneath her pillows and her face pressed on top.

“I brought you some water.”

“Okay.” She gestured vaguely to the bedside table.

“You gotta drink it.”  
“Why?” She gave a sigh. “It doesn't matter. I just wanna go to sleep.”

Steve sat on the edge of her bed. “Please?”

She was silent for a moment before sighing and slowly, carefully pushing herself up into a sitting position. She faced Steve and leaned forward, taking the cup out of her hands. She lifted it to her lips and took a few long gulps. “Ah....that's good.” She admitted, pressing the side of the cup against her temple.

“Finish that. I'll get you another, then I'll get you all tucked in bed and I'll head home.”

A wave of panic washed over Claire as soon as he finished his sentence. Tears sparked at the corners of her eyes again and she screwed her eyes shut. She didn't want to be left alone tonight. “Please stay.”

“Huh?” He furrowed his brow. “Why?”

She weakly grabbed at his hand. “Just. Please. I don't want to be alone. Stay here with me tonight.”

Steve eyed the space next to her on the bed. There was plenty of room, but the idea of spending the night with Claire had his gut in knots. He'd never really even been in a girl's room before tonight, much less in the same bed. “I dunno, Claire...”

“Please.” She laced her fingers with his.

“F-fine.” He breathed, squeezing her hand gently. He suddenly felt very self-conscious over the fact that he'd skipped a shower this morning. “....but I need a shower. You finish that water, okay, Claire?”

She sniffled lightly. “Okay.”

_You've got this._ Steve told himself as he fiddled with the shower knob, turning it slowly until hot water began to stream from the shower head. He stripped down, stepping into the shower and closing the curtain behind him. _She just wants you to keep her company. That's all._

He breathed deep, letting the steam fill his lungs. He breathed out just as slowly, trying to calm his nerves. The heat from the water relaxed his muscles, but his mind was still going a mile a minute.

What if she wanted more than just company? What if she wanted to fool around? He should say no, because she was drunk, and vulnerable, right? Still, his heart skipped a beat the thought of Claire's hand's around his...

He banished the thought with a rough shake of his head and began looking for soap. He was surprised how many bottles of product were in this shower – bergamot and lavender body wash (which he realized must have been Claire's once he opened it and sniffed the product inside), coconut shampoo and conditioner, face wash, multiple razors and two different kinds of shave cream, a bar of soap that he assumed was Chris's and a few other small bottles he didn't even bother to look at.

Since he was an only child, he never had to share a bathroom with anyone else. His mom had her own private bathroom, and he got the main one all to himself. He didn't even understand the need for different kinds of soap – he used the same kind of plain bar soap for everything from his face to his body, and an easy 2-in-1 shampoo and conditioner for his hair.

He squeezed a healthy amount of the bergamot and lavender body wash into his palm and began spreading it over his body. The bubbles felt almost luxurious as they cleaned away the dirt and sweat of the day. The scent filled his nostrils and reminded him again of Claire, and he couldn't help but smile.

He didn't let himself linger in the shower too long, shutting the water off as soon as the shampoo was washed from his hair. He stepped onto the small mat and dried off with the nearest towel, before pulling his clothes back on. He begrudgingly pulled his t-shirt over his head last, his wet hair leaving the collar a bit wet. Normally he slept in boxers, but he didn't want to give Claire the wrong idea.

He knocked once before entering the room again, this time finding Claire curled up in mismatched pajamas on her bed. Her eyes were still red from crying, but she seemed to be a bit calmer now.

“Feel better?”

She nodded. “...thanks for staying tonight.”

“Of course. Do....you want me to sleep on the couch?” He asked, eyeing the spot beside her again. He hoped she would say no, but would gladly give her the space if she wanted it.

“Why would I want you to stay and sleep on the couch?” She murmured.

He couldn't help a grin, but tried to cover his excitement. “...oh, sure, yeah. Whatever. That's fine.” He hesitated, watching her move over to create more space. He realized his palms were slick and he wiped them on his jeans as discreetly as he could before climbing in with her.

His breath hitched in his chest when she pressed herself against his chest. He made a soft, surprised sound and carefully wrapped his arms around her. He focused on keeping his breathing as slow and even as he could.

“Thank you.” She murmured quietly, face pressed into his chest. She felt better just being with him. Comfortable, safe and warm. She'd admit that she'd rarely felt like being with Leon. Just the thought of her soon to be ex-boyfriend brought tears to her eyes again.

“Shhhhh.” Steve nuzzled against the top of her head. “Close your eyes. He's not worth it.... You deserve so much more than the way he treated you.”

She swallowed hard and nodded, closing her eyes and leaning into Steve's warmth. She was asleep before he knew it. He kissed the top of her head lightly. He couldn't help but admire the way they fit together, her cheek pressed against his chest, his arms wrapped around her slim shoulders.

“Sweet dreams, Claire.”


	11. Revelations

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok heads up b/c there's gonna be some gay shit. m/m kinda gay
> 
> Sorry this took me so long to get up! October was stupid busy, then my computer was in the shop, then I had some writer's block. ._. so, hopefully I'll get back on the writing train! 
> 
> thanks everyone :)

Claire’s head pounded before she even opened her eyes. Her entire body had a dull ache to it, her heart rate racing, and her mouth bone dry. The memories of the night before were hazy and scattered. She opened her eyes slowly, wincing lightly as the sunlight stung her eyes. 

Details of the evening before came flooding back to her. The party. The drinks. Snippets of the conversation she’d had with Steve. Her heart ached and she almost couldn’t remember why for a moment. But the image of Leon covered in Ada’s trashy, too red lipstick was, unfortunately, very much burned into her memory.

“Fuck.” She sighed, rubbing her forehead with the back of her hand.

“Wha?” Steve murmured, stirring beside her. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes clumsily. His back ached, no doubt from sleeping next to Claire in a bed meant for one.

“What happened last night?” She groaned softly, rubbing her temples with her thumb and forefinger. She turned her head to look at him – which only caused another wave of pain to shoot through her head.

“Like in general, or…is there something more specific you’re asking about?” He murmured, stretching his limbs slowly with a quiet groan.

Claire was silent for a moment as she worked up the nerve to ask her next question. “I don’t remember anything after we left the party…did we…?”

“No! No. We didn’t do anything. You had way too much to drink.” He said so quickly he nearly fumbled his words.

“I didn’t have that much to drink.” She muttered. “I had two drinks.”

“Two _very _strong drinks.” Steve corrected her, swinging his legs around the side of the bed and stretching his arms over his head with a groan. “Not to mention the herb you smoked with me. I brought you home from the party, made you drink some water, put you to bed…. I was going to walk home, but you practically begged me to stay.”

She watched him, almost surprised that he was still fully clothed. “…you didn’t have to do that.”

“I know.” _But I really wanted to._ He shrugged lightly, trying to play it off as nonchalant. “But I wanted to make sure you were okay.”

A small smile pulled at the corner of her lips. “…thanks. I’m not really sure I’m okay, though.” She cleared her throat, letting her eyes come to focus on the ceiling for a second. She felt sore and groggy, like she needed another twelve hours of sleep to feel okay again. “…what time is it?”

“Uh,” Steve fumbled for his phone, flipping it open and reading the digital numbers on the small backlit lcd screen. “…ah, 11:23.”

“What!” She scrambled to her feet, nearly tripping as the blankets wound themselves around her ankles. Her head pounded in time with her heartbeat, the sudden movement increasing the pain what felt like tenfold. “Oh my god, I’m so late for school, Chris is going to kill me.”

Steve shrugged lightly. He wasn’t in the habit of skipping school, but at this point, the day was already practically half over. It would be lunch time by the time they made it to campus, not to mention the calls that already went out when they missed homeroom… plus, after the night Claire had, they maybe both deserved a day of rest. “Do you really feel like going to school today?”

She rubbed her eyes, hard. “…no.”

“So don’t worry about it.” He flashed a cheesy grin at her. There was something about it that made her relax. “And we’ll get breakfast. ….preferably, something with a lot of grease.”

Claire pointed to her selection on the menu as she read it out loud to the server. “Can I please have the Belgian waffles with an extra side of butter, bacon, and can I get the eggs over easy? Oh, and a large order of hash browns, extra crispy. And hot sauce.” She closed her menu, giving a soft smile as she handed over the menu. “Thanks.”

Steve stared at her for a moment, slightly impressed. The only girl he’d spent any time at restaurants before was Rebecca, who often opted for ‘light and healthy’ meals which usually consisted of veggies instead of food that actually tasted good.

“Oh god, and like, just the whole pot of coffee too. Please. Thank you.”

“Rough night?” The server flashed a smile, not waiting for a response from her before turning to Steve. “And for you?”

“Country fried steak and eggs, please. Scrambled. And coffee.”

She chuckled softly, scribbling on her pad of paper. “I’ll be right back with that coffee.”

Claire was silent for a moment as she fiddled with the napkin wrapped around her silverware. “…thanks for convincing me to skip school. I think I needed a day off.”

He smiled. He wouldn’t admit it, but most of the reason he’d suggested breakfast was that he wanted to spend time with her. “Of course. You deserve a day off.”

“I haven’t decided what I’m going to tell Chris yet, but… yeah. I think so too.” She smiled softly. She was, more or less, a straight A student. She’d never skipped class before, much less because she was hung over, so she hoped her brother would understand.

“Well, whatever you wanna do today… let’s do it.”

“I wanna go back to bed.” She sighed, only glancing up when the waitress came by with a carafe of coffee. She hoped the caffeine would help, because the rushed, hot shower she’d fumbled her way through this morning wasn’t enough. “Thanks.” She gave a small, polite smile to the waitress as she filled the two bright orange mugs on the table.

She shook out two packages of sugar before pouring them into her cup, followed by two tiny cups of creamer and hurriedly mixing them with a wooden swizzle stick. She tasted it tentatively, wrinkling her nose. It was still slightly bitter, but sweet enough that she could manage. She very rarely drank coffee, and usually when she did it was a fancy beverage from a coffee shop.

Steve, on the other hand, took a sip of his black before adding a single creamer and swallowing a large gulp. “You’ll feel better after you eat.”

“You sure know a lot about this stuff.”

He smiled again, though it was different this time. It wasn’t that it was forced – more that it was practiced. “Yeah. My Dad drinks. He’s not really around anymore.”

Something flashed behind Claire’s eyes. “Did he…?”

“No. No, not like that.” The smile remained on his face for a moment further before fading. “He’s alive, probably. He’s just not here… It’s better that way.” He tore his eyes away from Claire with the last statement, feeling a bit self-conscious.

She reached across the table, taking his hand and giving it a silent squeeze. Even with the different circumstances, she felt like Steve was one of the few people her age who could understand what it was like to go through life without their parents.  
  
  


Chris sat bolt upright in bed, dragging the back of his hand over his forehead. He was sweating, his heart racing. He wanted to chalk it up to the beers he’d had the night prior (and the slight headache _did _add credence to his thought), but he’d had a very… interesting dream centered on Piers.

He’d never had _that_ kind of dream about a boy before. If he was being honest, he hadn’t had any naughty dreams about anyone. Even though he’d been together with Jill for years now, and he thoroughly enjoyed being together with her, he honestly couldn’t remember a sex dream with her in the starring role – despite the fact that they’d chosen to take each other’s virginity.

He screwed his eyes shut, almost hoping to fall back asleep and resume the romp, but only recalling bits and pieces of the dream. He remembered Piers’ bare chest, glistening with sweat and the desperate, whiney sounds he was making. He felt his cock twitch and slipped his hand underneath the covers. He was half surprised to find himself standing at full mast and aching for some attention.

As he wrapped his fingers around himself, there was one thing he had in mind – the younger man’s perfectly defined chest, the trail of soft brown hair on his abs leading downwards, his lips parted as he made the most delicious, needy little whines…

Jill stirred beside him with a soft sigh. He froze, hand still wrapped around himself, watching her out of the corner of his eye. A wave of guilt washed over him. He was stroking himself to someone else as his girlfriend slept in her bed beside him.

He swallowed hard, climbing out of bed carefully so as not to wake Jill. His breath hitched in his chest as he made the couple of steps across the bedroom to her small bathroom, closing and locking the door behind him. The creeping feeling of how wrong this was only served to make him more turned on. He flipped the lid of the toilet seat down and quickly sat on it, pulling himself out of his boxers and getting to work.

He closed his eyes as the motions brought a few more snippets of his dream until he was rocking into his hand desperately close to the edge. He came with a quiet moan, the warmth spreading in his palm. His heart raced as he stared down at himself for a moment. As his erection started to flag and the endorphins from his orgasm faded, his desperate feelings of lust were replaced by shame and more guilt. He’d really never even been attracted to another guy before, much less hastily playing with himself in his girlfriend’s bathroom as she slept. He couldn’t help but wonder what this meant for him, and for Jill.


	12. Is this a date?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i guess this could have been one long chapter instead of two short chapters but here we go

As Chris tried to maneuver back into bed as quietly as he had gotten out of it, Jill stirred with a soft noise. He wasn’t sure how long he’d been in the bathroom after he cleaned himself up, but Jill seemed to be awake now.

“Mornin’.”

“Morning.” He smiled weakly, watching her roll over onto her back. Her dark hair messily framed her face, eyes half lidded as she looked up at him.

“Y’phone went off.” She murmured, gesturing vaguely to his cell on the bedside table.

“Oh, sorry. I didn’t realize it wasn’t on silent.” He leaned over her to grab it before sitting in the empty space beside her. He flipped it open, frowning when he had one missed call and one voice mail. He recognized the number as the Claire’s school and his heart fell. What if something had happened to Claire? He dialed the number for his voice mail and put it up to his ear.

He was slightly relieved when it was an automated message from the truancy officer. ‘_Claire Redfield is marked as absent for her classes today,_ the somewhat mechanical, disembodied voice said from the receiver. ‘_If this absence is excused, please contact the front office within 24 hours._’ Click.

Chris frowned, looking at the time. It was nearly noon. His sister wasn’t the type to skip. He double checked to make sure he didn’t miss any calls or texts from her. When he found nothing, he started to worry.

“Claire missed class this morning.”

“Really?” Jill looked to her boyfriend, mirroring his concern. “Maybe she forgot to set an alarm?”

“Maybe.” He dialed her phone number and called, listening to it ring. It rang until it went to voice mail and he swallowed hard. “….she didn’t answer.”

“Oh man.” Jill sat up, running her fingers through her hair. “….do you want to go check on her?”

“Yeah. I need to.” He felt a panic start to rise in his stomach. What if something happened to her? He didn’t know what he would do if anything happened to his little sister. She was the only family he had left and he didn’t think he would ever recover if something happened to her.

He swung his legs over the side of the bed, hastily pulling on the same jeans he wore last night. He buttoned and zipped them, shoving his bare feet into his combat boots and tying them quickly. He tugged his shirt on. “I’ll call you later. I’m going to see if she’s at home.”

“…Okay.” Jill watched him, the corners of her mouth turned downward. “Keep me updated.”

He closed her bedroom door behind him as he set off on his way home. He was thankful that Jill didn’t live far from him. An image of her lying in a ditch after she crashed her motorcycle flashed in his mind. He hated to admit how much he worried about her crashing on that thing.

Claire leaned back in the booth with a sigh, resting a hand on her very full stomach. She was starting to feel like a person again after a few cups of coffee and her big breakfast. Her only complaint now was that she was maybe a little bit _too _full, though that was preferable to how she felt when she woke up.

“Better?” Steve flashed a grin, spearing his last bite of country fried steak on his fork and savoring it. Diner food held a certain level of comfort for him, so even though it wasn’t the highest quality he was quite content.

“Yeah. Better. That was a really good idea. Exactly what I needed.” She agreed with a nod. She thanked the waitress as she dropped off the check.

“I told you.” He wiped his mouth on his napkin before balling it up and dropping it on the now empty plate in front of him. He watched Claire go to pull her wallet from her pocket and he stopped her. “No, my treat.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure? … wouldn’t that make this, like a date?”

“Of course I’m sure. You deserve a treat after a break up.” He pulled some crumpled cash from his pocket as he leaned over the table to swipe the bill from her. He counted out enough to cover plus a decent tip. “Do you want it to be a date?” He glanced up at her, unsure of what her reaction would be. He knew the response he wanted.

“I….don’t think we’re technically broken up.” She murmured, brushing a loose strand of her red hair behind her ear. “…I kinda do.” She said quietly, feeling warmth spread through her chest at the thought. “…but it’s not exactly the most romantic first date.” She added after a second with a laugh.

“Then we won’t call it a date. And I’ll take you out on a real one.” He grinned again and she returned his smile, albeit a little more shyly. “How’s Friday?”

“Oh. Friday?” She hesitated, considering. Her immediate reaction was that she wanted to go much sooner than Friday, so waiting four more days would be torture. At the same time, she didn’t want Steve to be a rebound while she healed from Leon. She thought he might be the real deal and she would be lying if she said she didn’t like him, and she maybe even liked him a lot. She still had to deal with Leon, and she wasn’t looking forward to that in any capacity. Friday gave her time to make sure the relationship with Leon was entirely severed. “…alright, yeah, we can do Friday.”

“Cool.” He swept his bangs out of his face, hoping that she couldn’t tell just how excited he was. He cleared his throat and swallowed the last bit of lukewarm coffee at the bottom of his mug. “Did you decide what you want to do next?”

“I still kinda wanna go back to bed.” She rubbed at her eyes as she thought about it. “I mean, honestly, I’ve never really skipped school. What do people normally do?”

“Go to the arcade, or the movies, or drink and smoke.” He laughed. Claire groaned and shook her head fervently at his facetious mention of imbibing more alcohol. As it stood, she had no interest in drinking again any time soon – maybe even ever.

“I have a feeling I’d fall asleep in a movie. The arcade sounds fun, though.” She smiled. She knew she would be in trouble when she got home to deal with Chris, so something light and fun sounded ideal in the meantime. She wouldn’t admit it out loud, but she loved the way Steve made her feel. It was such a stark contrast to Leon’s actions that it made her feel stupid for staying with Leon as long as she had. 

_This is how it’s supposed to be._ She thought. She wasn’t spending any time questioning his motives, or ignoring the feeling that something wasn’t quite right. She felt at ease, happy. Steve was genuinely a good person and it was starting to hit her more and more that Leon hadn’t been right for her, even from the start. Her heart still ached, but for the first time in a long while, she was starting to feel like everything was going to be okay.


	13. Bets

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got frustrated with this fic and took a short break but I feel refreshed and I'm back!

Claire pressed her palm flat against the ufo catcher, peering at the brightly colored stuffed prizes inside. She wasn’t one for stuffed animals – she’d gotten rid of the ones from her childhood before she turned thirteen – but there was something about the Doberman perched on the top of the pile in the machine that caught her eye. Maybe it was just the challenge of actually winning it, or just the hangover taking away finer cognitive details, but she wanted it.

She counted out four tokens and fed them into the machine, wrapping her hand around the joystick as the machine whirred to life. She positioned it over her preferred plush – carefully – and hit the flashing red button to drop it. She held her breath as the metal clasped around the dog before beginning to ascend again.

“Yes!” She pumped her arm in celebration, only to watch her prize drop and land on the bed of toys below it. “….oh.”

Steve laughed, starting to clap sarcastically. “Oh man, you totally thought you had that.”

“Yeah.” She pressed her nose to the glass, frowning. The dog lay a few inches away from the chute – so close but still so far. “….ugh.”

“I bet I can win it for you.”

“Yeah? I bet you can’t.” Claire crossed her arms, turning to face the redhead. “These things are totally rigged.”

“What do you want to bet?” Steve flashed a grin. She noticed a mischievous glint in his eye and she cocked an eyebrow in response, intrigued.

Claire paused for a second, thinking over her choices. “How about dinner? If you get it, I’ll buy you pizza. And if you don’t….you buy me pizza.”

“I’ve got a better idea.” He began to feed tokens into the game. “If I can’t win it for you, I’ll treat us to pizza. If I win it, you give me a kiss.”

“What? Ugh, so cheesy.” Claire tried to play it off, despite the sudden tightening in her stomach. She was suddenly hoping that she would be proven wrong. She felt her cheeks flush.

Steve grinned, carefully positioning the catcher over the Doberman she’d had briefly before and hitting the button. He wet his lips, eyes not leaving the machinery as it closed around the plush only to barely brush the sizes only to ascend again. “….aw man.”

Claire laughed this time, but found herself a bit disappointed. She wanted to kiss him. Steve fed another set of coins into the slot, furrowing his brow as he tried again. This time the metal successfully grasped – and lifted – the prize. He drew in a sharp breath as the claw swung precariously just above the chute. He clenched his fist when the prize dropped and landed with a soft _thunk _in the bottom of the machine.

He turned to face Claire, a triumphant grin plastered on his face. Claire couldn’t help but admit that he looked pretty cute like this. “Well? Pay up.”

Claire swallowed hard, all of the sudden feeling a bit anxious. You only got to have your first kiss with someone once – she wanted it to be good. She wanted to show him that she liked this – liked him. She stepped towards him and hesitated for a second before leaning into him. She kissed him softly, drawing away after a moment.

“Is that it?” He asked, disappointed.

She said nothing in response, kissing him again. She kissed slowly this time, snaking a hand around the back of his head and into his fiery hair. His mouth was soft against hers – though she could tell he was a little less experienced. His movements were clumsy and unsure. He held his breath until she drew away again.

“Is that to your liking?” She teased lightly.

“Y-yeah, oh man.” He breathed in sharply, feeling a bit lightheaded. “Wow. Y’a good kisser.”

She giggled. “Thanks.”

He smiled softly, staring at her for a moment longer. He finally tore his focus away from her and dipped down to collect his prize. He held it out to her after a moment. She took it and grinned at him, repeating a ‘thanks.’

“You’re welcome.” He paused for a moment, running his palm through his hair. “…that was my first kiss.”

“Huh? Like, first first?” She asked, wrinkling her nose lightly. How was that possible, they were the same age, right? She’d been kissing boys since she was a freshman (not that Chris needed to know that detail.)

“…yeah.” He scratched the back of his head, suddenly feeling very vulnerable. He was thankful that the arcade was empty aside from the bored twenty-something working the prize counter. “Girls don’t like me much, I think.”  


“Well, that’s good for me, isn’t it? Because I like you.” She smiled.

“I like you too, Claire. A lot.”  
  


Chris jerked his head up as he heard the front door lock unlatch. The sun had begun to set and intensify his worry – he’d reached out to a few of Claire’s friend’s to no avail. It wasn’t like her to disappear like this, much less without any sort of contact. He jumped to his feet and made it to the end of the hall just as she flipped on the light in the kitchen.

“Claire!”  
She blinked a few times, looking at her brother. She clutched the stuffed animal given to her by Steve to her chest. “Hey.”

“Where have you been all day, young lady?”

_Shit. _“Uh…. School?” She smiled weakly. She’d entirely forgotten about Chris and an alibi for skipping class in all of the excitement.

“Hell no you weren’t. I got the call this morning. You didn’t answer your phone, you didn’t call me. I didn’t know where you were. You could have been laying dead in a ditch somewhere for all I knew.” He threw his hands up.

“Oh, shit.” She immediately began to pat her pockets, looking for her phone. “….that’s because I don’t have my phone.”

“You know I don’t like you riding that motorcycle. You know I worry about something happening to you, Claire.”

“Yeah, but dead in a ditch? Really, Chris?” She wrinkled her nose in distaste. “That’s so cliché – plus, do I have to remind you that you’re _not _Dad?”

“You scared the shit out of me.” He reiterated, speaking as slowly and concisely as he could. “Don’t do that again.”

She gave an indignant sigh, shaking her head. “Whatever.”

“No, not whatever, Claire. Skipping school? Not getting in contact with me? That’s not okay.”

“I had a bad night, okay?! I stayed up too late, and I had a little much to drink….and, I didn’t make it to school. I won’t do it again, Chris, god.”

“You drank?” Chris frowned, folding his arms over his chest. “Claire, what’s gotten into you?”

“I’m trying to be a normal teenager. I went to a party. I got a little too drunk. ….Leon was there. With Ada. He was cheating on me.” She looked away from him.

Chris rubbed his temples, slowly. “…I’m gonna kick his ass.”

She couldn’t stifle a soft laugh. She did kind of want that, but she didn’t want her reputation to be tarnished. The last thing she wanted was any sort of social repercussions from the situation, and if Chris beat Leon up that meant she would have that hanging over her head until college. “…please don’t. I just want to move past this.”

Chris sighed softly, wrapping his arms around his younger sister. “I’m sorry, Claire. He’s an ass.”

She sniffled slightly, leaning against Chris’s chest. “Me too. …. I’m sorry I made you worry. I just….wanted to get away for a few hours, that’s all. I won’t do it again.”

“…it’s alright.” He ruffled her hair. “….go on, then. Get back to whatever you were planning on doing.”

“Thanks.” She smiled weakly, rubbing at her eyes. “….love you, Chris.”

“Love you too, Claire.”


	14. New Beginnings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had a minute where I let life get to me and overwhelm me and I got frustrated with this fic, but it seems like it's flowing again. 
> 
> uhhh I have nothing to say but it's gonna get kinda gay, so if you aren't into that you won't be into this fic either. Love when y'all leave reviews and kudos. <3

The shrill beeping of the alarm clock cut through the otherwise quiet air. Claire gave an audible groan and rolled over, tapping the long ‘snooze’ button on the top. She felt like she needed another twelve solid hours of sleep before she could face the day, but the idea of getting to see Steve at school made it a little easier to get out of bed.

Her alarm blared for a second time and she gave a heavy sigh as she swung her feet over the edge of her bed and stood slowly. There was still a dull ache present in her back and lower legs, but nothing a few ibuprofens and a big cup of coffee wouldn’t fix.

She noticed Chris’s keys sitting on the counter as she stepped into the kitchen to start a pot of coffee. Strange, considering he usually chose to wake up early and hit the gym before class. She wondered if he was feeling under the weather. She shrugged it off, deciding he probably just needed a mental health day too.

She dressed quickly – jeans and a t-shirt, no matching required – and tugged her leather boots on last. Back in the kitchen, she stirred sugar and milk into her coffee until it was palatable and gulped it down hurriedly. The milk cooled it just enough to keep her from burning her mouth. She finished her grooming routine by pulling her hair into a tight ponytail and brushing her teeth. One last glance at her phone – zero messages – and she was ready to walk out the door.

The morning air was still crisp and cool, so she was very thankful for her leather jacket for the layer of warmth. She straddled her motorcycle, glancing to Chris’s car as it sat in the driveway. She made a mental note to check on him later, just in case he really was feeling under the weather.

She tucked her helmet under her arm as she dismounted her bike. She dug her phone out of the front pocket of her backpack, flipping it open and checking to see if she had any new messages since the last time she checked at home. She couldn’t ignore the small pang of disappointment as she saw no messages. She tucked her phone into her back pocket and started the trek to campus.

She couldn’t ignore the nagging voice in the back of her head that was spewing reasons for Steve to ghost her. Maybe he changed his mind, or wasn’t serious in the first place. Maybe seeing her with a broken heart was too much and he decided he couldn’t handle it. Her gut was twisted in knots by the time she crossed the parking lot. She was already preparing herself for the (very real, in her mind) possibility that Steve would want nothing to do with her today.

She was reaching for one of the curved metal handles on the door when a voice called her name.

“Claire! Wait up!”

She craned her head over her shoulder to look, feeling her face split into a smile as soon as she saw the familiar shock of red hair bounding up the stairs after her. All of her worries faded and she felt the butterflies start to flap around in her stomach again.

“…hey.”

“Hey.” Steve grinned through heavy pants, leaning forward and putting his hands on his knees to catch his breath. “…’ve been chasin’ you for a minute – guess you didn’t hear me.” He laughed weakly, straining his back and scratching his head.

“Sorry. I was…. Just got in my head a little.” Claire smiled sheepishly. All of the sudden she felt silly. “How are you?”

“Good. Better that I get to see you before class.” He grinned. “Did you sleep okay?”

She giggled softly, holding the door open for Steve behind her. “I did. I think I missed you sleeping next to me…but honestly, I was so tired that once I got home and in bed I was out like a light.”

“Me too.” He agreed. “…I did have a while that I wished that I was sleeping next to you again. But it was nice to be home in my own bed too.”

Claire fiddled with the combination lock on her locker, swapping out her Chemistry book for her English book and double checking that she had the proper notebooks. “Yeah. ….maybe we can convince Chris to let you crash with me again.” She smiled, despite knowing the chance was slim to none. “I’d really like a sleepover that I actually remember.”

Steve laughed and opened his mouth to say something, but the alarm bell sounded before he had a chance to get the words out. “….aw, man. I gotta get going. Passing period is barely long enough to make it to my class and I can’t have another tardy.” He flung his arms around Claire without much warning, giving her a peck on the cheek. “I’ll see you later, yeah?”

“Oh!” Claire tensed slightly for a moment before wrapping her arms around him for a brief hug. “…yeah, right. I’ll see you later.” She smiled, watching Steve practically take off running down the hallway.

Home room was boring, as usual. Claire was having even more of a hard time listening to her History teacher drone on about something she couldn’t care any less about than normal. Every time she’d try to take notes, she just found herself thinking about Steve’s goofy smile.

Chris rolled over and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. The LED letters on his alarm clock showed that it was past noon. When he’d decided to take the day off after the high stress level that was yesterday, he hadn’t planned on sleeping this late. He did have to admit that it felt good – like he was a kid again, sleeping in well past noon on the weekends.

He got up and showered, finding that the coffee pot in the kitchen still had some (semi-fresh) coffee. He poured himself a cup and stirred in milk, sitting at the table to savor it. He couldn’t remember the last time he took a whole day to himself – between work, school, the gym and his training and taking care of Claire he had little time for small joys like this.

“I should text Jill.” He murmured out loud, hoping to convince himself. There was a strange guilt sitting in his stomach – he kept thinking about that boy Piers, and the dream he’d starred in – and part of him wanted to avoid Jill because of it. He knew that it wasn’t right, but he didn’t know how to approach it. “….later.”

Chris decided to do what he always did when he needed to clear his head and think – head down to the shooting range. It had been a while since he’d had the chance and found himself practically giddy as he pulled into the mostly empty parking lot. There were only two other cars parked out front – a white four door station wagon that Chris recognized as Robert Kendo’s car, and a forest green Jeep that he didn't recognize.

“Hey,” Chris smiled at the young girl at the front desk.

“Oh, Chris.” Her face lit up as he approached her. “It’s been a while since we’ve seen you. I was starting to get worried.” She giggled, picking up a box of 9mm ammo and sliding it across the counter for him. “Missed seeing your face around here.” She added with a wink.

He gave her a twenty dollar bill in exchange for the bullets. “Life just got busy for me, I guess.” He rolled his shoulders in a shrug. “Still going to school, taking care of Claire, training, AFROTC. Work. Just haven’t had a day off for myself in a while.” He picked up the box, feeling the ammo clink together inside. “Thanks, Jessica.”

“How’s… Jill, was it?” She pursed her lips. “Are you two still together?”

Chris chuckled but tried to steer the conversation away from Jill. “Yeah. She’s good. Busy too, pretty much the same. School, AFROTC.” He shrugged again and cleared his throat. “But, If you don’t mind,” He gestured lightly with the ammo. “I wanna get to this.”

Jessica sighed, curling a strand of her chocolate hair around her forefinger playfully. “Okay. Well, let me know if you need anything else, okay?”

“Will do.” Chris gave her one last smile before heading through the iron doors to his right. He breathed in deeply as the doors swung closed behind him. The smell of gunpowder was instantly exhilarating – the worries he had about Jill and Piers faded from his mind. He got a glimpse of Robert Kendo down at the far side of the range and gave a quick wave before setting up in a booth of his own.

He loaded his gun carefully, counting the bullets silently as he did. The bright yellow foam earmuffs were a bit tight on his head for the liking but he knew it was better than the alternative. He clicked the magazine back into place and flipped the safety off. He loved the way he felt with a gun in his hands and made a mental note to do this more often. Otherwise his gun was just sitting in a safe at home and that wasn’t any fun.

He breathed out slowly as he squeezed the trigger. The bullet pierced the paper target effortlessly – though way off from where he thought he was aiming. He frowned, a bit irritated that he’d allowed himself to get this rusty. He aimed again, the second and third bullet inching slightly closer to the center of the target. By the time he chambered his last bullet, he’d only made three bullseyes – much to his chagrin. He was thankful Kendo was the only other one in the range because if any of his AFROTC buddies – or god forbid, his girlfriend – had seen his pitiful display he would surely be subject to some teasing.

He sighed and put the gun down, hitting the small button to retrieve the target. He pulled it from the carrier, scowling at it momentarily before loading a new one. He glanced over his shoulder as he felt a light tap on his shoulder, expecting to see Kendo standing behind him. He felt his heart drop when he recognized the brunette decked out in full combat gear.

“Sir.” He gave a short salute. A black rifle was in his other hand, the belt slung around his shoulder to hold it steady. 

All of the sudden Chris’s mouth felt dry. He mustered a smile the best he could, hoping it didn’t look forced. “...Hey, Piers.”


	15. A New Day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I beat RE3R and that made me feel a bit inspired. I've been jumping around between this and smutfics so check those out if you haven't!

“I never thought I’d see the day that Captain Redfield skipped school.” The smallest smirk spread across Piers’s lips.

Chris glanced away from him, scratching the back of his neck. Part of him was embarrassed that he’d been caught when he _was _supposed to have a perfect attendance record and lead by example while the other part felt a ping of guilt. He hadn’t been hoping to run into the younger boy any time soon, especially after his dreams the few nights before.

“Yeah, well, I don’t want to hear you telling anyone you caught me here, Soldier.” He mustered after a moment, returning Piers’s smirk.

“Mind if I join you?” He gestured to the empty booth beside Chris.

“Oh, no, not at all.” He swallowed hard, trying to ignore the butterflies that had started to bounce around in his stomach. He couldn’t deny he felt giddy as he watched Piers set up his weapon. He found his eyes lingering on his well sculpted biceps before pulling his focus away and reloading his gun.

“Thanks.” He tugged his orange ear muffs over his ear and turned away from Chris. He readied his rifle, making sure he lined it up with his target downwind _exactly_ where he wanted it and squeezed the trigger. He fired three shots, all three of which that tore through the target in the exact middle of the bullseye.

“Hey, that’s great. You’re even better than I remember.” Chris smiled. _Honestly, this kid might even be better than me._ He couldn’t help but think. He’d focused more on his weight and endurance training than he did his shooting. He made a mental note to have to change that – he needed to be able to impress on the range too.

“Thanks.” Piers smiled. “I practice every Tuesday and Thursday morning. Sometimes Friday afternoons too. Jessica gives me a discount if I come up in ROTC gear. Says something about ‘a man in uniform.’” He shook his head.

“You skip school every Tuesday?” Chris frowned lightly. That was no way to get ahead. He opened his mouth to chastise him when Piers interrupted him.

“No, I only have afternoon classes. I go in after lunch.” He cast a sideways glance at Chris. “I don’t skip school, Captain.”

“Sometimes you just need a day to yourself to think things through.” Chris shrugged, slipping his ear covers back on and turning to empty another clip into a fresh new target.  
  
  


12:16. Claire had less than thirty minutes before lunch and thirty minutes before she got to see Steve again. She was practically vibrating with excitement. She honestly felt a little embarrassed that she felt this strongly – they’d only hung out a few times, but here she was counting down the minutes before she could see him again.

12:19. She tore her eyes away from the clock and tried to focus on what her English Teacher Mrs. Wesker, was talking about. They had been studying Kafka this semester, which Claire normally found quite interesting. Today it just wasn’t working for her. She found herself picking at her cuticles.

12:25. Claire looked back up at her teacher as she turned and wiped the chalkboard clean.

“Okay class, that’s it for today. Your homework for tonight is to finish reading _The Metamorphosis._ Tomorrow we will be having a discussion on themes, so please take down any notes you may have. Don’t forget the Quiz has been moved to Friday.” She wrote the information down on the freshly wiped board.

Claire scribbled the information in her planner and started to pack up the rest of her materials. Her hands were nearly shaking by the time the school bell rang, signaling the end of class and the beginning of lunch.

“Miss Redfield, I would like to speak with you.” Her teacher said as her classmates began to filter out of the room. Her stomach knotted up. She didn’t have time for this.

Claire shouldered her backpack and stopped at the blonde’s desk. She smiled weakly. “Yes?”

“I am merely concerned.” She looked down over her thick rimmed glasses. “You skipped school yesterday…. Today you’re present but you didn’t listen to a word I say. What’s going on?”

Claire hesitated – she wasn’t sure if she should lie or tell the truth. “….I just had a really bad night Sunday, so I stayed in on Monday for a mental health day.” She scratched the back of her neck, looking at her feet.

“And today?” She folded her arms, leaning over her desk.

Claire sighed, brushing some stray strands of hair out of her face. “I’m seeing this new guy. I’m just really excited to see him.”

She wiggled her finger at her lightheartedly. “Don’t let boys get in the way of your education. You’re a very promising student, Claire.”

She smiled weakly. “I won’t. Can I go now?”

“I’ll see you tomorrow. Make sure you do the reading. I want you to participate in class tomorrow!”

“Okay, I will.” Claire was already halfway out the door with a half-hearted wave. She tried to contain her excitement as she practically bounced down the hallway towards the Cafeteria. The throngs of students in the halls had already thinned, mostly everyone heading to where they preferred to eat lunch.

Steve took a seat across the table from his friends. “Okay, so Claire’s going to eat lunch with us today. Don’t be weird, okay?”

“I love Claire. She’s really sweet.” Rebecca smiled softly, opening her salad. She poured the homemade dressing over it, gesturing at Joseph with her fork. “Be nice.”

“What? Come on, I’m always nice.” Joseph grinned, tearing open his bag of chips.

“Oh come on.” Brad couldn’t help but roll his eyes. “You are not.”

“You don’t have to argue.” Steve sighed, glancing around to make sure she hadn’t heard. “Just, I really like her, okay? _Please_ be cool.”

“Is that her?” Forest pointed over Steve’s shoulder as a slim, tall redhead carrying a motorcycle helmet tucked under her arm entered the cafeteria.

Steve glanced over his shoulder to confirm and couldn’t help a grin. “Yeah.”

“Not fair, Burnside. She is totally out of your league.” Joseph murmured through a mouthful of potato chip.

Rebecca hit him lightly in the arm with the back of her hand. “Manners, please.”

Claire approached the table with a smile and a wave. “Hey.”

“Hey.” Steve smiled up at her, scooting over slightly and patting the empty space beside himself. “You can sit next to me.”

“Cool.” She smiled back, putting her backpack and helmet on the ground and taking a seat beside the boy. “Uh, I’m Claire.”

“Hey.”

“Hey, Rebecca.”

“I’m Brad.” He cleared his throat, wiping off his sweaty palm before extending it to shake hers. She clasped it and shook lightly. “Nice to meet you.”

“Yeah, we’ve heard a lot about you.” Joseph smirked.

“Good things, I hope.” She smiled sheepishly, digging her lunch out of her bag. She’d packed a peanut butter sandwich and a large serving of grapes.

“Forest. Ain’t you pretty as a peach.” He punctuated his statement with a wink.

Claire giggled softly and found Steve’s hand on the table. She laced her fingers with his. “It’s nice to meet you guys. Thanks for letting me eat lunch with you.”

Lunch hour went much quicker than Claire had been anticipating. She felt quite at ease with Steve and his friends. The first bell rang, signaling that it was time to pack back up and head to the next class.

“Aw man.”

“Lunch is always too short.” Joseph agreed, nodding somberly.

“At least the day is half over.” Rebecca smiled. Though she didn’t want to verbalize it, she was also very excited for the day to be over. She got to see Billy today after school for a little while, which was very rare for a Tuesday afternoon. He said that there was a surprise for her, but refused to give her any more hints.

“That’s true.” Claire sighed as she swung her legs across the bench and stood. She grabbed her things, leaning forward to get a few more kisses in before she had to go to her next class. She brushed her lips lightly against Steve’s at first, kissing harder the second time.

He wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her closer and returning the kiss. His heart beat in his chest hard – part of him quite happy to be able to do this kind of public display of affection _finally_ in front of his friends and the other part just nervous to be around her. He’d never felt anything like this and wasn’t sure he would ever be lucky enough to like someone as much as he liked Claire.

They finally broke away (In part due to Joseph’s loud fake coughing) and Claire shouldered her bag again. “I’ll see you later.”

“Yeah. Later. Maybe we can get a coffee or something after school.”

“…maybe.” Claire smiled softly. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to see him – she wanted to spend all of her time with him. But Mrs. Wesker’s words rung in her ears again. “We’ll see. I already have a lot of homework to catch up on from yesterday.”

The two minute warning bell sounded and they hurriedly parted ways.

“It was nice to meet you guys!” Claire waved at Steve’s friends as they headed the opposite direction. 


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've just been writing a lot this week ok? Starting to get the ball rollin on some stuff

Rebecca wasted no time in hurrying out off of campus, unable to contain her excitement about being able to spend time with Billy. She thought Claire and Steve were cute together, but watching them get sickly sweet at lunch had made her miss Billy more.

She spotted his car parked on the street and grinned, giving a small wave as she approached. She opened the passenger seat, sliding inside and leaning over the console to stash her backpack out of the way. She threw her arms over Billy’s neck, causing the older man to chuckle and wrap his arms around her.

“Hey, Princess.”

“Hi, Billy.” She grinned. “I missed you.”

He brushed the fringe of her bangs out of her eyes. “I know, I missed you too.”

Rebecca sat back in her seat, pulling the seat belt over her chest and clicking it into place. She smiled softly, trying to calm her nerves over the impending reveal.

Billy turned the car on with a flick of his wrist, hearing the engine roar to life. The radio clicked on, playing some classic rock station that he nearly always listened to. “What do you say to a treat?”

“Is that the surprise?” She raised an eyebrow. “What kind of treat?”

“Of course not. I’ll tell you over coffee.” He squeezed her thigh lightly with a smirk.

She was thankful that the _Sigourney_ coffee shop – her favorite local spot – wasn’t too busy this afternoon. It was always hit or miss – some days it was so packed you could hardly hear one another in conversation and others it was nearly empty.

“You snag us a table, I’ll get us coffee.” Billy landed a light pat on Rebecca’s backside as she smiled shly.

“Okay. Caramel macchiato-“

“I know, dollface, with chocolate chips_ and_ whipped cream on top.”

She grinned, feeling so lucky to have someone like Billy around. She made sure to pick a quiet table – she wanted to hear everything he had to say. There was something about disrupting her very strict routine that made her giddy.

Billy joined her, coffee in hand. He slid hers across the table and she gladly took it. She popped the top off and brought it to her mouth, taking a large mouthful of whipped cream.

“Mmmmm.”

Billy leaned forward, wiping a tiny bit of lingering cream off the side of her mouth with his thumb, only to pop the digit into his mouth with a slightly suggestive eyebrow raise.

Rebecca’s face burned hot and she sipped her coffee. She couldn’t help but wonder why Billy seemed to be in such a good mood – and so affectionate. It was a little out of the ordinary, but nothing she was going to complain about.

They made small talk, asking about each other’s day and homework she had before she finally couldn’t stand it anymore.

“Billy, what’s the secret?”

“Well… you know I’ve been thinking about picking up a second job.”

Rebecca nodded, furrowing her brow lightly. She didn’t know where he was going with this.

“I just picked up a short term position at your school. Gym teacher.”

Her face lit up at the chance to see Billy every day. “Really?”

“Yes, really. Would I lie to you, princess?” He smiled, taking a sip of his coffee. “I start tomorrow. I guess the regular teacher had a family emergency and will be gone for the rest of the semester.”

The younger girl grinned, practically bouncing up and down in her seat. “That’s so great!”

“I know. I’m excited to see you wear those cute little green shorts.” He smirked. She bit her lip, feeling a rush of heat wash over her body. She liked that idea. “But we’re going to have to go over some ground rules about it, okay?”

“Like what?” She wrinkled her nose lightly.

“We can’t flirt in public, _especially _at school. I am not breaking up with you, you mean too much to me, but I need you to realize that we can’t get caught having this relationship, especially now. I’d lose my job.” He took her hand, interlacing his fingers with her much smaller ones.

Rebecca frowned but nodded. “I understand.” She knew the public often frowned on relationships with a large age gap like hers and Billy’s – but she was nearly eighteen. Taking college courses. She was old enough to make the decisions that she wanted to make and she wasn’t about to let anyone tell her not to.

-x-

Claire decided to compromise – she told herself she would spend thirty minutes after school with Steve and then head home to catch up on homework. She felt pretty satisfied with that outcome – she could always call or text him if she finished early or needed a break.

Steve touched her shoulder lightly as he approached her from behind. “Hey.”

“Hey.” She smiled, feeling a small rush of excitement.

“So did you wanna hang out? Get something to eat with me? Coffee? Ice cream?” He listed off options as he raised fingers.

“I have a lot of homework,” She prefaced it with, watching disappointment flicker across his face. “But we can hang out for a little while. Relax before I get caught up on it.”

Steve pumped his arm in the air in celebration. He felt like dancing. “Awesome. What do you want to do?”

She laughed. She forgot what it was like to be in a relationship when the other person actually wanted to be around you. She took Steve’s hand in her own. “Let’s just walk.”

“Did your teachers give you a hard time about skipping class?”

“Just one. She wasn’t angry, just disappointed.” Claire rolled her eyes lightly at the sentiment. Mrs. Wesker was one of her favorite teachers, but it still felt cliché. “I don’t think my other teachers cared much.”

“Yeah, mine either.” He walked in time with her, hoping that she couldn’t tell how sweaty his palms were. She made him nervous - in a good way. Out of all of the crushes he had, she was the first that had ever liked him back. “…does this mean you’re my girlfriend?” He grinned.

“Steve….I just don’t know if I’m ready for that commitment yet.” She almost felt guilty, like she was leading him on. “…but I really, really like you. And I like spending time with you, too.”

“I like you too.”

“I just think like, labels are for soup cans. I don’t think we have to put a name on it yet.” She smiled.

Steve was silent for a moment, deep in thought. “….does that mean I can’t kiss you anymore?”

“When did I say that? I happen to like it when you kiss me.”

-x-

Chris felt incredibly relaxed when he left the shooting range – lingering a bit to speak to Kendo and then Jessica on the way out. It felt nice to take the day as it came, something he was sorely missing. He’d let life get too busy.

He frowned as he approached his jeep, a folded piece of paper tucked under his windshield. He was expecting a nasty note about his parking job or a ticket – both ways to ruin his good mood.

He pulled it from under the rubber, smoothing it out. It was a phone number and signed ‘Piers.’ He ignored the butterflies in his stomach and tossed the note onto his dashboard. He suddenly felt a little guilty that he hadn’t even checked in on Jill since the day prior. He fully intended to call her as he fished his phone out of his pocket, but found himself picking up the piece of paper from his dash and dialing the number.


	17. exploration

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> all ive been writing lately is kissing scenes lmao.
> 
> slowly gettin to the smut! there's a lil taste in this fic.

Despite Claire’s whole ‘labels are for soup cans’ speech, she thoroughly enjoyed the way she felt with Steve’s arms wrapped around her and their lips pressed together. She’d always very much been a fan of making out, but Leon’s constant insistence that she put out made her wary.

Steve didn’t make her feel that way. Instead of anxious and like she wasn’t _good enough,_ she felt happy and relaxed. He wasn’t as good of a kisser as Leon, that she would admit – but he wasn’t bad. Just inexperienced.

She ran her fingers through his hair, enjoying the feel of her lips and tongue against his. He kissed much more timidly than she was used to, small kisses and letting her tongue claim his mouth as her own. She wasn’t used to that, but she didn’t mind.

Claire broke away with a soft giggle, touching his jaw lightly. “Here, like this. Follow my lead, okay?”

Steve nodded, trying to keep his breath as even as he could. He’d never had a girlfriend and could count the girls he’d kissed on one hand. Just being this close with Claire had made him a bit… excited. He hoped she didn’t notice.

She nuzzled her nose slightly against his, pressing their foreheads together. She kissed lightly, once, twice, three times and giggled. He returned her kisses, slipping his hand slightly up the back of her shirt. He stroked there lightly, feeling the softness of her bare skin.

“Open your mouth,” She whispered, lips only a breadth away from him. He did as she instructed, Claire carefully running the tip of her tongue over his bottom lip. He planted his hand on the back of her head, keeping her close as he gently drew the tip of her tongue into his mouth and suckled on it.

Claire felt a shiver run down her back and she found herself grinding herself against his leg. She broke away for air, her face burning. “….good.”

Steve swallowed hard, burying his face in the crook of her neck. He took a deep breath of her scent and drew a small patch of skin there into his mouth. He sucked and licked until there was a red spot and drew away with a satisfied grin.

“Hey!” Claire pressed her fingers to the spot that Steve had left. “…Chris is going to see and you’re going to get me in trouble.”

“Oh, sorry….” He trailed off, still smirking as he admired his work. “You wanna do one on me?”

The girl couldn’t help but grin and give a nod. “Yeah.” She twisted her fingers into his hair, sinking her teeth into his neck. He gave a yelp, feeling her mouth forming a neat little ‘o’. His toes curled lightly as he felt her suck. She pulled away with a loud pop after a moment, rubbing her finger over his new hickey. “…fair’s fair.”

Steve grinned wider. It’s not like his Mom would notice and he would be happy to show off a hickey to his friends. “Awesome.”

She laughed and kissed his nose lightly. There was a heat pulsing between her thighs which meant it was time to go home, but she placed a few more kisses on his lips first

“I have to go home or Chris is going to get upset. …plus, I have homework to catch up.” She smiled weakly.

“Aw, man.”

“Yeah. But I’ll see you tomorrow. And…. You know, if you want, you can text me.” She gave a slight shrug, trying to seem nonchalant. She placed a quick peck on his cheek before standing and brushing the loose grass off her backside. She extended a hand to Steve which he shook his head.

“Uh, it’s cool. I…am really comfortable.” He smiled weakly, shifting lightly in his seat. He didn’t want her to see how much their little make out session had turned him on. “Text me when you get home?”

Claire giggled softly, staring down at him. “…yeah, of course.” With that, she blew a kiss and walked back to the parking lot. She cast one last glance at him over her shoulder as she rounded the corner and he disappeared from view.

She was surprised as she parked her bike on the street that Chris’s jeep was missing from the driveway. She pulled her phone from her back pocket, double checking to make sure she hadn’t missed any messages from him.

She composed two text messages: one to Steve with a simple _‘I’m home!’_ as well as one to Jill with a little more care, _‘Hey is Chris with you?’_ She tucked her helmet under her arm and dismounted her bike, walking into the house.

She hadn’t been anticipating for Chris to be home – having the house to herself at this hour was a bit strange. She set her backpack down, digging out her English homework. She fully intended to sit down and knock it out so she wouldn’t have to deal with it later… but found her brain focusing on Steve.

The heat between her thighs hadn’t dissipated; the vibration of her motorcycle had only caused her arousal to worsen. She could hardly concentrate, thanks to the wet spot in her panties. After a few moments of staring blankly at her copy of Kafka’s work, she found herself entirely distracted.

She sighed loudly and marked her page with her plastic bookmark. She left the book on the kitchen table as she decided to take a quick bath, hoping to clear her head.

-x-

Jill perked up as the sound of her phone went off, expecting a message from her boyfriend. She couldn’t help but frown when it was from his little sister.

She texted back, almost immediately. _‘No. Not since yesterday.’_ She rubbed her temples. She’d already been worried about the lack of communication from Chris, but the message from Claire solidified it. What was going on?

_‘Hope you’re good. Let me know if you talk to him.’_ She texted after a moment. She watched her screen for a second but sighed and tossed it to the foot of her bed after there was no response.

This wasn’t like Chris. He had always been the perfectly attentive, sweet boyfriend. They hardly fought, he texted her every day. She couldn’t ignore the pain in the pit of her stomach. Something was going on.

-x-

Claire slipped into the bath that she had drawn for herself with a sigh. The heat felt good on her muscles. She breathed the steam in, relaxing. Her hand dipped between her legs, stroking her inner thigh lightly. The feelings Steve had stoked inside her hadn’t dissipated yet and she wasn’t really sure how to deal with the heat in her core.

It wasn’t the first time she’d felt these feelings – obviously. But with Leon… he’d always been so pushy, so demanding that it had been a turn off. Steve had not complained, nor pushed or made her feel uncomfortable or pressured.

She let her fingers comb through her pubic hair, coming to rest on her mound. She enjoyed the pressure on her most sensitive parts, sighing softly. She found her thoughts drifting to Steve – his mouth on hers, his hands on her body. Part of her wished he was here with her now, touching her instead.

She stroked the bundle of nerves lightly, feeling the shockwave of pleasure spread through her core. She applied a bit more pressure, experimenting. It wasn’t that she hadn’t ever… touched herself. It was more so just that she didn’t find the time, often. She knew what she liked, mostly…

In her fantasy, Steve sat beside her on his knees. His hand dipped below the warm water, touching her legs, her curls, her clit. His finger brushed against her slit and she bit her lip to keep herself from making a noise.

She imagined Steve’s fingers in the place of her own as she slowly pressed a single digit inside. She worked her clit with her free hand, quick little circles as she stroked her g-spot in time. She slipped another finger in with a gasp, stretching herself. She was a virgin, as much as Leon had tried to change that.

Claire rolled her hips in time with her movements, her pert nipples hard as the water lapped at them. She was coming before she realized it, her soft pants dissolving into a cry. She stroked herself lightly as her orgasm dropped off, leaving her with aftershocks.

She nearly jumped out of her skin as she heard a knock on the other side of the door. She had no idea how long she’d been in the tub, but apparently it was long enough that Chris had found his way home.

“You okay, Claire?” He called, his voice laced with concern.

Her face burned hot as she slid down further into the water. “Yeah.”

“You crying?”

“….no, just uh.” She wracked her mind for an excuse. “Sore. Yeah. We ran the mile today in gym class.” She lied flatly. There was no reason for her brother to know what she was up to.

“…alright, well. I’m grilling burgers for dinner. Just got some stuff to take care of first.”  
Claire rubbed at her cheeks. “Okay.” She called before she dunked herself under the water completely. She held her breath for as long as she could before resurfacing, wiping the water out of her eyes. She waited to get out of the tub until she heard Chris’s door close.

Chris stared at his phone, looking at the multiple messages he’d missed from Jill. He felt a little guilty. He’d spent the entire day with... he shook his head, chasing the thought away. He wasn’t ready to broach that topic.

_ ‘Sorry, just got home. Didn't have my phone.’ _He hit send, watching the message get added to the chat log. It was a lie, but he didn’t want Jill to worry. He decided to add after a moment, _‘Grilling burgers for dinner. Come over.' _


	18. comfort zone

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh  
I didn't realize I didn't post this.
> 
> I'm working on so many damn fanfics right now that I entirely spaced writing this chapter. finished a nearly 5k LeonxClairexSteve fic yesterday so check that out if it's up your alley.
> 
> Thanks for the hits & the reviews, folks!!! Means a lot to me.

Jill frowned, staring at her phone as Chris finally messaged her. Something felt fishy – in their entire relationship, he had never gone nearly two days without contacting her. She accepted his dinner invitation, deciding it was best to talk to him in person.

_‘Sounds good.’_ She deleted the period and substituted it with an exclamation mark before sending. ‘What time?’ She added a smiley face for flair.

_‘Lets do 7:30.’_ The message read on her screen and she glanced at the clock. Plenty of time to take a shower and head over.

The sun was beginning to set as Jill knocked on the door. She’d stopped on the way over and picked up a six pack of Chris’s favorite beer. She had a feeling it might take a little bit of coaxing to get him to talk.

Claire, surprisingly, was the one who opened the door. She wore a pair of black leggings and a red t-shirt. “Oh hey. I didn’t know you were joining us for dinner.”

Jill flashed a smile. “Yeah, Chris invited me. I thought burgers sounded great.”

Claire stepped aside to let her brother’s girlfriend in. She closed the door behind the brunette, eyeing the beer in her hand. “Can I have one of those?”

“Uh – ask your brother.” She laughed, side stepping the redhead and slipping the beverages into the fridge. She was sure one beer wasn’t a big deal but didn’t want to speak for Chris.

“Absolutely not.” Chris shook his head, shaping the patties in the kitchen. “Claire, you’re underage. Especially after what you pulled this weekend.” He shot his little sister a look.

Claire sighed and took her seat back at the dinner table, picking up her English homework again. “Fine.”

The older Redfield pecked Jill on the cheek, keeping his hands busy with prepping dinner. “I’ve got the grill going…. Uh, lets see, we’ll have to chop the onions still but basically everything is good to go. Grab us some of those beers and lets head outside and get started?”

Jill gave a soft smile. She was glad he seemed normal – she couldn’t help but wonder if she’d blown it out of proportion in her head. She grabbed two beers out of the fridge along with the bottle opener and followed Chris outside.

He opened the hood of the grill. The coals were red hot, signaling they were ready. He began to place the pre-formed patties, glancing to his girlfriend.

“How many do you want?”

“Two, please.”

“That’s my gal.” He flashed a grin, placing two patties on the grill for each of them. He closed the lid, hearing the meat already sizzling as it began to cook. “Well done?” 

She smiled, taking the bottle opener and popping both of the caps off. She handed Chris his drink. “You know me so well.”

“Yeah.” Chris smiled and she saw guilt flash across his features momentarily. She swallowed a large gulp of beer, beginning to second guess herself again.

“So what’d you do today?” She asked, hoping she sounded as innocent as possible.

“Well, after Claire decided to skip school…. I thought I maybe deserved a break, too.” He shrugged lightly, hoping to keep as closely to the truth as he could. “So I went to the shooting range.” He smiled softly to himself. “…it was nice.”

Something flashed behind Jill’s eyes as she thought about Jessica – the ditzy brunette that worked the front desk with a penchant for flirting with the patrons. Well, male patrons. She’d never been particularly kind to Jill.

“Oh?” She asked, tucking a strand of hair behind her hair. She felt like the smile was plastered on and she hoped Chris couldn’t tell how fake it was. “Does that girl, what’s her name… Jennifer still work there?”

“Jessica? Yeah, she does.” Chris took a metal spatula, flipping the burgers. He let the ones he’d put on the grill for Claire sit a bit longer – she preferred her meat a little bit more cooked through. He never understood it, but it wasn’t any harder than cooking the others. “Why?”

Jill tapped her fingernails on the glass bottle, deciding exactly what she was going to say. She didn’t want to come off as accusing, but she wanted to make sure she got the whole story. If she were being honest, Jessica was a little bit of a downgrade compared to her. 

“I just seem to remember that she has a little bit of a thing for you.” She smiled still, her jaw starting to hurt.

“What?” He laughed, glancing at her. “Really? No. She flirts with everyone. Piers even said that she flirted with him, which is…” He trailed off. “…which, I’m pretty sure, Piers is… uh, gay.” He dropped his voice a few octaves as if he were ashamed. 

Jill frowned lightly. “Oh, did you go with someone else?” She couldn’t help but wonder why he didn’t invite her – she loved to practice.

“No, not exactly.” Chris glanced to her. “…I mean, I went alone. He just… walked in after I was there for about half an hour. Kendo was there, too.” He added after a moment, taking a big gulp of his beer. He almost felt like he’d been caught in a lie, which technically, he had.

Jill sighed softly, pulling up one of the plastic lawn chairs beside the grill. She took a seat, crossing her legs. She was glad that he hadn’t been out with some other girl. “Why didn’t you tell me that to begin with?”

“I dunno.” He murmured. “…Just kinda needed a day to myself. Sorry I didn’t tell you, Jill.”

“It’s okay. Just take me next time.” She smiled softer this time. She was glad they talked about it, she felt better already. “I’m not saying we have to spend every day of every hour together… it just made me a little worried the way you ran off yesterday and I didn’t hear from you all day.”

Chris nodded. “Yeah, sorry…. We’ll go together, next time.”

-x-

Claire read her homework and took notes for the discussion tomorrow until her phone buzzed and broke her concentration. She glanced at it and smiled when she realized it was Steve.

_‘I totally forgot 2 text u’_ His first message read, a second coming through almost immediately. ‘_got home & smoked some herb’. _She couldn’t help but chuckle.

_‘Sounds like you lol’ _She responded, feeling her stomach flutter as her mind drifted back to her fantasy. ‘_You’re a pretty good kisser you know.’ _She added after a moment with a smile.

‘_no ur a good kisser!!!’ _ He responded. She could almost see his goofy grin. She couldn’t help but chew her lower lip as she texted back.

_‘Call you tonight before bed?’ _She glanced up, making sure Chris wasn’t peering over her shoulder. He was still in the backyard. She added a quick _‘xoxo’ _and hit send.


	19. Mr. Coen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> two chapters! in one day! two chapters! in one day!
> 
> idk what's better, do y'all prefer for me to upload them as I finish them? Or would you prefer like, weekly updates? Tell meeee
> 
> thx <3

Claire lay in bed after finishing up with their bedtime phone call, her sheets pulled up over her head. It was late, much later than she knew she should be staying up, but she couldn’t tear her attention away from her phone. She would send a text and then stare at her phone until Steve responded. The process repeated until eventually, she fell asleep with her phone in her hand

She groaned when the alarm clock went off, immediately regretting staying up late the night before. She stretched her limbs as far as they would go before pulling herself out of bed. She was excited to participate in English and she was excited to see Steve again. He was honestly the reason she looked forward to school anymore.

She toasted a piece of white bread, taking the time to text Steve while it crisped up.

_‘Morning! Wanna meet me in the parking lot before class? Miss your face.’_

She put her phone down on the counter as her toast popped from the toaster. She grabbed it, applying a liberal spread of butter and jam and nibbling on it. She put on a small dab of perfume and made sure she brushed her teeth (and swished with mint mouthwash) before heading out the door.

She didn’t check her phone again until parked her motorcycle. The helmet came off and she fished her phone out of her pocket, looking for a confirmation message from Steve. She couldn’t help but smile when she found one.

_‘cant wait!!!’_

She couldn’t help but smile, tucking her phone away and keeping an eye out for the boy with the shock of red hair. She began to grow nervous, checking the time as the start of class drew closer. She wondered if he was running late. Reluctantly, she shouldered her bag and headed towards the entrance.

-x-

Steve looked between the two older boys. The one on the right – a tall, solid wall of muscle with short blonde hair wearing a too small football jersey – he didn’t recognize. The other - a smaller, lean boy with an olive complexion and long, dark hair that hung in his face – he did recognize. They had Spanish together the previous year. Luis something.

The redhead gulped and tried to push past them, mumbling some excuse about being late. He didn’t want to miss seeing Claire before work – but these two were physically blocking him from walking around them.

“I gotta go, guys.” Steve said lamely, clutching his math textbook to his chest.

The blonde knocked the book out of his hand, his lips curling into a cruel sneer as the book landed with a heavy _thump._

“Nice, Krauser.” The other laughed, watching Steve bend down and fumble to pick it up only to knock it out of his hand again.

“What’s your problem?” Steve hissed, taking a step back. “I didn’t do anything to either of you.”

“You stole our buddy’s girl.” ‘Krauser’, the one in the too small Jersey smirked again, placing his large, black combat boot on Steve’s book. “And that is not okay?”

Steve stared at them, exasperated. He hadn’t stolen anyone’s girl, as far as he knew. He assumed they were talking about Claire – but her ex had been cheating on her. He opened his mouth to protest but decided on saying nothing, taking a step away from the other two. His best shot was to diffuse the situation – he’d never been in a real fight before and today was not the day he wanted to change that.

“I gotta go guys, really.” He held up his hands with his palm turned outwards, giving them a small shake. “I don’t want any trouble.”

Luis threw his arm out, the heel of his palm connecting with Steve’s shoulder and causing the redhead to stumble back. He caught himself before he toppled over, swallowed hard. _What a way to start the day_, he thought.

“Please. Don’t do this.” Steve swallowed hard, keeping his hands up to show he wasn’t in the mood to fight. Before he knew it there was a heavy, calloused hand being brought against the side of his head. He stumbled sideways, his hand touching the impact site. It hurt already, heat and pain radiating down the side of his face.

Krauser wrapped his fingers in Steve’s collar, pulling him off the ground a few inches as he brought him eye level with him. He sneered again. The smaller boy could smell his breath from here – it was not pleasant. 

“You’re going to leave Claire alone. Is that understood?” He growled, so close that their noses nearly touched. Small bits of rancid spittle landed on Steve’s face.

He said nothing for a moment, maintaining eye contact with the bully. He refused to be scared this easily; Claire meant a lot to him and he wasn’t going to back down this easily. It’s not like Leon was any good for her, anyways – he had actively cheated on her for _months _of their relationship.

“Or what?” Steve said slowly, trying to stay as calm as he could. He was terrified – this boy could absolutely _pulverize _him if he felt like it. He was sweating profusely, hoping that the other two couldn’t smell his fear.

Krauser threw him to the pavement, satisfied with the sound the back of Steve’s skull made as it connected with the concrete.

“Let’s just say it’s better for your health, _comrade, _if you break it off with her.” He spat on the pavement beside the redhead. He turned and began to walk away.

“Fuck you.” Steve growled, staring up at him. He wasn’t going to back down that easily, despite the throbbing at the base of his skull. Every ounce of common sense in his body _screamed_ at him to give up, to surrender and to run away. But he didn’t, staying planted where he was.

Luis laughed, taking a few steps back to avoid the wrath of his much bigger friend. He knew exactly what was coming as Krauser spun on his heel.

“What did you say?” His voice was low.

“Fuck. You.” Steve repeated, spitting at Krauser. The thick glob landed on his shined boot.

“I’m going to make you regret that.” Krauser wrapped his hand around Steve’s throat, picking him up with ease. He applied pressure, sneering as Steve struggled to draw breath. He kicked in vain, his legs flailing pathetically in the air. He brought his free hand back against Steve’s head, eliciting a whimper from the boy.

Steve saw stars for a few moments as his vision faded in and out. He managed to plant a kick in the middle of Krauser’s chest, causing him to tumble to the ground again as he released him finally. He scrambled away from him the best he could, clutching at his throat and swallowing large gulps of air. His lungs ached.

Krauser shook his head, something flashing in his eyes. He returned one last blow with the toe of his boot, causing Steve’s nose to run red.

“Watch yourself, comrade.” He growled.

Steve heard the school bell ring, signaling the start of the school day. Thankfully, the two boys decided they were done torturing him and walked off conversing casually as though they hadn’t just beaten the snot out of him.

He stayed on the ground for a moment. The blood was warm as it ran down his chin and stained his t-shirt. He leaned his head back, pinching the bridge until the flow slowed. He climbed to his feet, carefully, gathered his things and made his way directly to the nurse’s office.

-x-

Rebecca could hardly contain her excitement as third period drew to a close. Next up was physical education; not always her favorite class, but she’d secretly been looking forward to having Billy as a teacher. It felt – dirty. She’d never had a crush on her teacher before.

She hurried to the gymnasium as soon as her previous class ended. Her stomach was full of butterflies. She was the first in the locker room, stripping down into her underwear and pulling her sports bra on over her head. Next came her gym uniform, rolling the elastic waistband of her shorts down to make herself look_ just _a little bit cuter for Billy.

Rebecca was practically bouncing as she stood against the wall of the gym, waiting for class to start. Eventually her boyfriend emerged from his office, wearing a matching green track suit. A silver whistle hung around his neck.

He winked at the brunette as he surveyed his fourth period class. He blew the whistle – sharp and short – to get all of the student’s attention.

“Good Afternoon. I am Mr. Coen. I will be subbing for the rest of the semester.” He took a few steps, the sound echoing off the tall walls. “I’d like to start this morning with some stretching and then two laps around the building please.”

Rebecca giggled to herself, bending over and beginning her stretches. She could feel Billy’s eyes on her and she liked it. The sound of the whistle pierced the air after a moment.

“Let’s go ahead and take those laps, everybody.”

Rebecca ran her laps at a comfortable pace, not worrying about stressing her out. She could slack off a bit for once and it wouldn’t be a big deal. She was looking forward to a short break. She finished her second lap, hardly breaking a sweat and was startled to hear the sound of Billy’s whistle again.

He pointed directly at Rebecca with a slight frown on his mouth.

“Two more. I know you can do better than that.” He watched her stare at him for a moment, mouth slightly ajar. “Go.”

She frowned at him for a moment before starting her laps again at her normal pace. The rest of the class went decently well – but Rebecca felt a little like Billy was picking on her or signaling her out and she couldn’t quite figure out why. Maybe he didn’t want to go easy on her? Either way it left her feeling a bit frustrated by the end of the class.

As the lunch bell rang, she decided to hang back a bit and see if she could talk to them. Maybe they could even eat lunch together.

She took an extra-long shower to allow the rest of the class to clear out before drying and pulling her clothes back on her body. She poked her head around the corner, making sure the gym was empty before hurrying to Billy’s office.

She knocked on the wooden frame before entering. “Billy?”

“Mr. Coen, please, dollface.” He flashed a charming smile at her from behind his desk.

She giggled softly. “Sorry, Mr. Coen.”

“Close the door, please.” She nodded and smiled, closing the door behind her.

“How’s your first day?” She asked, dropping her backpack on the floor and sliding into the chair in front of his desk.

“It’s been good. I noticed you were slacking a bit out there, though.” He raised an eyebrow at her.

Rebecca blushed. She was embarrassed he’d noticed. “Yeah. Sorry.”

“Princess, I know what you’re capable of. I just don’t want to see you slacking off out there.” He reached forward, squeezing her hand quickly before withdrawing.

“Yes, Billy. I mean, Mr. Coen.” She sighed softly. So much for getting to take it easy for the rest of the semester. She pulled her lunch box out of her bag and set it on her lap. “Can we have lunch together?”

Billy’s eyes flicked to the door and then he gave a nod. It seemed pretty innocent enough to have a student in his office for lunch, right?


	20. Bruises

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> holy shit this took me so long to get a chapter up and I apologize.
> 
> I wrote it, and then I didn't like it, so I put off re-writing it for like, a whole month.
> 
> I've also been roleplaying as Steve on Twitter and it's .... so much fun, oh my gosh. The one thing I've learned from this pandemic is to indulge in stuff you wanna do. Thanks folks.

The pen light the nurse shone in Steve’s eyes burned and he jerked away from her, screwing his eyes shut. His head pounded and that wasn’t helping – at all. He just wanted to lie down for a little while.

The nurse sighed, dropping her arm beside her. Her brow was knit, the frustration plastered on her face obvious. She dressed in a sleek white lab coat and tan slacks with a glossy black nametag that read ‘A. Birkin’ pinned perfectly straight on her chest. Her heels clacked on the cheap linoleum as she moved. Her dark blonde hair was piled loosely on the top of her head in a loose bun. She was surprisingly pretty for a school nurse, but her bed side manner was terrible. She was cold and short, like she had something better to be doing. He didn’t like it much.

“Steven, I need you to sit still for me.” She rubbed her temples with her fingertips.

“Steve. It’s just Steve.” He murmured, pressing them to either side of his own head. He just wanted the throbbing to stop. 

“Steve,” She corrected herself with an annoyed sigh. “I need you to sit still.” She repeated.

He sighed softly in return but tried his best to sit still as she shone the light in his eyes.

“Keep them open.” She instructed, lips pursed as she moved the small light back and forth between his eyes. After a moment she clicked it off and tucked it back into her breast pocket. She brought her fingers to the back of his head, pressing against the swelling lightly.

“That hurts.” Steve murmured through gritted teeth.

“I suppose it does.” She hummed lightly, drawing away. He frowned at her, wondering what kind of job she held before and just exactly how she got hired to work here. “I’m going to give you a bag of ice for the swelling. I can’t legally give you anti-inflammatory medication, but there are individually wrapped packets in the upper right hand drawer of my desk. I’ll be returning momentarily with ice.”

Steve blinked a few times, looking from the nurse to her desk. He couldn’t wrap his head around this situation. This was certainly the strangest day he’d had in a while, to be honest. She produced a small bottle of water from a milk crate behind her desk before she left Steve alone in the office.

He felt a bit guilty, standing and taking two doses of safsprin, pocketing one for later. He tore open the little foil packet, tossing the trash and quickly swallowing the pills with a mouthful of water. He sat back down on the cot, the paper rustling lightly.

Nurse Birkin returned after a few moments, handing him a plastic bag full of ice. He took it and pressed it to the knot at the base of his skull with a sigh. It took a few moments before the pain began to melt away. He found it much easier to sit still while she cleaned the small cut on his forehead, even though the disinfectant stung a bit.

It took the entirety of homeroom before he felt good enough to ask to be excused at the bell. He caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror as he left the office and grimaced. One of the spots where the older boys had landed a hit was already bruising. No doubt it would be worse by the time he saw Claire. He guessed that meant he _had _to tell her. Luckily, he had some time to think about it.

He practiced in his head during passing periods, figuring out exactly what he was going to say.

_Some older guys jumped me. I’ve never seen them before. _

_Some older guys jumped me. I’ve never seen them before. _

_Some older guys jumped me. I’ve never seen them before. _

He stood outside the cafeteria for a full minute, psyching himself up and repeating the statements in his head. He could do this. He just kept picturing the worry on Claire’s face and it made him nervous. He didn’t want to seem like he was weak, but he didn’t want Claire to think less of him for being in a fight.

Joseph was actually the first one to say anything as Steve approached the table. The bruise on his cheek had indeed already darkened. The first round of medication had worn off and his head started to throb again. He sat beside Claire wordlessly, trying to play down the situation. 

“What the fuck happened to you?” Joseph blurted out, leaning closer to Steve to see the injuries on his face.

“I got jumped before school.” Close enough. He murmured, pulling his lunch box out of his backpack. He didn’t make eye contact with Joseph. He felt embarrassed that he’d taken such a beating with nothing to show for it.

“Steve….” Claire gently took his chin in her hand, looking at his face with a frown. “This is bad, did you go to the nurse?”

“Yeah, she said I don’t have a concussion so she gave me some ice and sent me to class.” He murmured, trying to sound a little indignant when he knew he would’ve probably refused to leave school for the day. He wanted to see Claire and if that meant having to sit through the day with a headache, he was okay with that.

“That’s ridiculous.” Claire sighed, touching the bruise on his cheek. He winced. “Who did this to you?”

_Some older boys that I don’t know._

“Leon’s friends.” Fuck. He heard himself say before he even realized it. He felt his stomach drop as though he’d been punched again. He’d rehearsed that so many damn times in his head and Claire had undone all of that with a single question.

“What?” Her voice was practically a growl.

Steve sighed. He felt so stupid. He didn’t want to bring her into this, didn’t want to make her involved with her ex-boyfriend’s stupid drama. He gulped and turned his entire body to face her.

“Luis. Something. The other guy was big. Krauser, I think.” He folded his arms over his chest. “I was walking to school and they jumped me. Got me pretty good.” He admitted, looking away from her.

“You poor thing.” Claire looked at him, eyes wide. She touched his face gently, leaning forward and peppering kisses over his bruises and scrapes.

Steve’s face flushed a bit as her lips met his skin. He was still sore and swollen, but he liked _this. _He swallowed hard and made a decision to up the sympathy level.

“Yeah. It hurts a lot.” He pouted slightly now. He heard Joseph groan and _knew_ he was rolling his eyes at him. Steve knew he was just jealous, though.

-x-

Steve was thankful when the day was over. He was ready to go home, take a shower and put the rest of the day behind him. He wanted to do nothing but eat snacks and play video games (and smoke a little too much herb, if he were being honest.) He thought he deserved that much.

He met up with Claire to say goodbye for the day. He assumed that, like yesterday, she would have too much homework to want to hang out. He wrapped his arms around her, resting his chin on her head. He breathed in her scent with a soft smile. 

“What’re you doing today?” She asked, pressing her face against his chest. She wanted to take care of him the way that he’d taken care of her. She locked her fingers behind his back.

“Probably go home and play video games.” He shrugged lightly, touching her back gently.

“Can I come with?” She asked in a quiet voice.

He cocked an eyebrow. “Really?”

She smiled softly and bit her lip, looking up at him. She gave a semi-shy nod, causing the younger boy to smile back.

“I would love that.” He grinned, excited at the prospect. He knew it would irritate the hell out of Joseph to have Claire join them.

Claire felt Steve wrap his arms around her middle, pressing his face against her back as he straddled her motorcycle. He always enjoyed being close to her like this, even if it was only for the ride to his house.

“You good back there?” She glanced over her shoulder to look at him. “I don’t need you falling off and hitting your head again, okay?”

“Yeah.” He tapped the side of the helmet she’d handed him with his knuckle. “I’m good.”

“Alright. Hold tight.” She kicked her motorcycle into gear, feeling it rumble beneath her. The boy tightened his grip on her middle, smiling inwardly.

-x-

Steve set out a couple of cold cans of soda before plunking down beside Claire on the couch with a freshly loaded bong. She eyed the contraption, eyes narrowed. It seemed a lot scarier than a little bit of herb in a piece of paper. She wasn’t so sure.

He handed her an extra controller, pulling his headset on.

“Hey guys. Claire’s gonna play with us today.”

There was an audible groan from Joseph’s mic. “…Cool, man.”

Steve couldn’t help but smirk. Irritation achieved. He offered the bong to Claire first, watching the mild bit of panic that spread over her face. He covered his mic, leaning towards her.

“You don’t have to. Just offering.” He flashed one of his goofy smiles at her. She glanced from the glass to Steve and back to the glass before taking it from him. “Do you know how?” He watched her.

“…no.” She murmured sheepishly.

“So you’re gonna light this,” He point to the portion that actually held the herb. “And then you’ll pull it out and breathe in. Okay?”

“Okay.” She swallowed hard, following his instructions and taking a hit. As soon as the (much larger than she was used to) amount of smoke hit her lungs she spluttered and coughed, forcing the bong back into Steve’s hands.

He rubbed her back with a chuckle. “You’ll get better at it.”

She smiled and refused a second hit, sinking back into the couch. She didn’t see how he did it all the time. It was nice every now and then but she just didn’t think she enjoyed it the same way. But, she didn’t mind indulging a little bit when she was with him.

The match started and Steve was surprised to find out that Claire managed to hold her own against his friends during firefights. It almost seemed like Joseph had it out for her, his character appearing in her kill cam over and over again.

“Hey man, come on.” He spoke into the mic. This time, he was the one who was irritated. It wasn’t fair for him to single her out like that.

“What?” He asked, feigning innocence as his character grabbed Claire’s from behind for another kill.

“Dude, I fuckin’ see you.” Steve gestured at the tv angrily. “We’re playing split screen and I _see you_ targeting her. It’s getting old, dude. Lay off.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He could hear the smirk in the other boy’s voice, which only served to make his blood boil more.

“Just wait, I’m gonna kick your ass, Frost.” Steve growled, his avatar chasing after Joseph’s. He was distracted as Claire lifted the headset off of him, speaking into it in place of Steve’s.

“It’s cool. You guys have fun, I’m gonna go make out with Steve.” She clicked the headset off, putting it back on the table. She stood and crossed the room, turning off the system.

Steve watched her, all of the anger from his face gone as he watched her approach him.

“…we really gonna make out?”

She gave a soft smile, slipping into his lap and placing a soft kiss on his mouth, being wary of the bruises and injuries, especially the swelling on the back of his head.

“Hell yeah we are.” She kissed his jaw. “Why do you think I came over?”

He blushed softly. He honestly hadn’t realized that was her game plan. He’d thought she wanted to play video games with him. He felt silly, to tell the truth. He’d let Joseph get him so worked up over something that she didn’t even want to do.

“Sorry for getting mad,” He murmured between kisses. The weight of her on his lap was making it hard to concentrate, painfully aware of the problem that was starting to arise below the belt. He couldn’t hide it this time, not with the way Claire was pressed up directly to it.

“It’s okay.” She smiled softly, wrapping both of her arms around his neck and bringing herself closer to him. She pressed her chest against his, enjoying the warmth there. “He’s not very nice to you.” It was a conversation for a different time, though, as she ran the tip of her tongue over his lower lip.

“Yeah, I really am going to kick his ass.” He murmured, resting his hands on her hips. He probably wouldn’t; today had proven that he was not a fighter. But he was definitely going to say something. He didn’t appreciate the treatment from one of his oldest friends.

Claire chuckled softly. “Shhhhh. Kiss me.”


End file.
